Many e-mails from Chicago conservatives, falling into roughly three camps. 1) Yes, the conservatives you met with in Chicago were right: Daley has been a very good mayor: solid, sensible, reliable. We’ll miss him when he’s gone. 2) The conservatives you met must be on crack: Daley has been a terrible mayor: a massive overspender, a friend of corruption, a patsy for the unions. Good riddance. 3) Daley has been a flawed mayor — nothing like we conservatives would order, if we could order one. But he’s as good as it gets — as good as it gets in this town, in that position.

Thank you for your e-mails, spirited and opinionated (and well-informed) Chicagoans! Good luck with Rahm (if it’ll be Rahm). I hope he’ll be as tough on street criminals and bureaucratic crooks as he is on Republicans.

P.S. Would Chicago elect a Jewish mayor? As President Obama helpfully pointed out in the press recently, Emanuel’s middle name is “Israel.”

P.P.S. Hasn’t been a Republican mayor of Chicago since Hoover was president. But Bernie Epton came very close. Remember?

P.P.P.S. His son, Jeff Epton, was a leftist city councilman in my hometown of Ann Arbor, Mich. (Have I been redundant? Are all Ann Arbor councilmen leftist? Don’t think so — not quite sure.)

P.P.P.P.S. Jimmy Walker said, “I’d rather be a lamppost in New York than mayor of Chicago.” (Note to Chicagoans: It was him, not me! I’m from Michigan, remember — closer to you. I like towns that toddle.)