Blago's College Buddy Talks

Bill Powell writes in Men's Journal about his friend Blago:

How does a Nixon-loving, Reagan-imitating, ambitious young man get ahead politically? In Chicago, there was one way, and one way only: by joining the machine — Richard J. Daley’s machine — that had stolen the presidency from his hero in 1960. We had taken a political science course in college about American urban political machines and read the classic book  Don’t Make No Waves — Don’t Back No Losers, about Chicago politics. Rod knew what he had to do. He became a Democrat and worked his way up the ladder ­— running first for the state legislature, then Congress and the governorship. It was the triumph of ambition over ideology. He married Patti Mell, daughter of a big-time alderman, which is what they call city councilmen in Chicago. None of us were surprised.

For more on Blago's earlier "questionable" past.