Crain's Chicago Business crows that Chicago businesses will enjoy happy times now that so many political appointees in Washington will be from Chicago:
[F]or Chicagoans hoping to do business with the federal government or influence U.S. policy, the key won't be a high-level connection to the White House. It will be the ability to get a call back from the staffers who have direct lines to the powers that be as well as, in some cases, authority over bureaucratic functionaries. So while being from Chicago may not get you an audience with designated Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, it may help you get to his deputy chief of staff, Matthew Yale, a vice-president at Chicago-based Ariel Investments LLC.
One of my friends pointed out the flip-side of all this: lots of good people have left Chicago. Lots of them. I've kidded about my Congressman and junior Senator leaving, but really, it's hundreds of our best and brightest. The talent vacuum gives people like our soon-to-be-former governor and our new, I-guess-we-can-live-with-him-for-two-years U.S. Senator something to fill. Consequence: we have no state government right now.
Don't misunderstand: I am very, very happy that Obama will become President in 26 hours or so, but I also think it comes at a pretty steep cost for Illinois.