Battered with poor press coverage and questions about how much the games would ultimately cost taxpayers, the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid committee has taken its campaign on the road, scheduling 50 public meetings in the city's 50 wards before the International Olympic Committee makes its selection on October 2. So far, representatives have faced mild criticism from citizens worried about cost overruns, but no major dust-ups have occurred. Last night's meeting, hosted at the Center on Halsted by the Lakeview Citizens Council, was a different story. According to the Tribune, Chicago 2016 officials "had to defend the bid from attacks on multiple fronts." These included representatives from Friends of the Parks and No Games Chicago, the latter of whom suggested that the city was too "broke," "incompetent," and "corrupt" to handle the event effectively. FOX Chicago attended:

In a play-by-play of the proceedings, Mike Volpe of The Provaceteur took an interest in the language Chicago 2016 used to distance itself from the Daley administration.

In fact, [No Games Chicago's Tom] Tresser, on at least five occasions, referred [sic] to Daley by the moniker corrupt. No one supporting the bid ever challenged this characterization. Instead, their defense was that the bid was a private non profit effort that is separate from the mayor's office.

After attending a meeting last week, the Reader's Ben Joravsky noticed this sleight of hand as well.  He pointed out in response that Daley has controlled every step of the process, even committing to use taxpayer money to cover any cost overruns that result from the execution of the games. For good measure, Lori Healey -- Daley's former chief of staff -- left City Hall in December to serve as president of Chicago 2016.

The committee's reluctance to defend City Hall also makes for an interesting political footnote. Even though the mayor secured reelection with over 70 percent of the vote last time Chicago voters went to the polls, Olympic officials seem to sense that the public is losing patience due to the administration's recent incompetence and misplaced spending priorities. A poll released in April by the SEIU Illinois Council (this website's sponsor) bore that out, putting the mayor's job rating at only 41 percent.

This could all lead to a big political opening in 2011, if an ambitious -- and organized -- politician is willing to take a crack at Daley.  Of course, if the city gets the games in October, the chances of that happening will shrink considerably.