The Reader's Ben Joravksy, who has doggedly reported on Richard Daley's career for nearly three decades, explains his reaction to the retirement bombshell:

But I wasn't nearly so jubilant on September 7, when Mayor Daley announced he wasn't running for reelection. In fact, I was a little disappointed. I didn't want him to leave this way. I wanted him driven from office in a massive grassroots uprising, sort of like the one that swept Jane Byrne into office back in 1979. I wanted the election to come down to the wire, with the crucial votes coming from the poor west- and south-side wards he's been neglecting all these years.

Oh, well—Mayor Daley wins again.

Read the full column, which includes a charming story about Joravsky's first (well, second) meeting with Hizzoner.