All going swimmingly for first victim of Obama tsunami

Former Buffalo Grove resident Gery Chico knows what it's like to be in a political dead heat with Barack Obama as the campaign finish line approaches.

Four years ago, Chico, a former president of the Chicago school board and one-time chief of staff for Mayor Richard M. Daley, was in a virtual third-place tie with Obama in the crowded Democratic primary field for U.S. Senate.

When then-front-runner Blair Hull imploded, Obama was the one who bolted from the pack to best Chico, Hull, Dan Hynes, Maria Pappas and others. Before the general election, Republican Jack Ryan self-destructed, giving Obama a cakewalk against wacky interloper Alan Keyes.

And now Obama is maybe a Pennsylvania primary and one general election away from being the leader of the free world.

Does Chico ever look back and fantasize, "That could have been me"?

"Oh God, no," Chico says with a robust chuckle in his downtown office as president of the Chicago Park District board. "I never look back on anything."

There's no sour grapes, not a drop of whine in Chico.

"I support Barack," Chico says, his volume rising and his hands gesturing as he does some enthusiastic campaigning for Obama. "He's done a great job."

Having worked in the 1990s with Obama and his wife, Michelle, at the Chicago law firm of Sidley & Austin, Chico says they are old friends.

"Obama and I always have had a good relationship. He's very smart and very personable," says Chico, 51, who adds that he enjoyed their Senate campaign debates. "I appreciate what he's done. I feel an affinity with him as a Chicagoan. It's really, really exciting. … We've produced the No. 1 candidate for the president of the United States."

Chico had a résumé back then that was as impressive as Obama's. A South Side kid with immigrant grandparents from Greece, Lithuania and Mexico, Chico got his law degree, worked in the private and public sectors and had a reputation for building consensus. But he won't talk about "what ifs."

"Nobody's come up to me and said, 'You could have been' … Nah, it doesn't happen," Chico says.

"I'm very happy doing what I'm doing," adds Chico, who is partner of his own law firm, president of the park board, a Chicago public building commissioner, a member of the Chicago 2016 Olympics Committee, a trustee at DePaul University, a leader in the Catholic Church's effort to extend the faith in areas that need help, and the winner of countless honors from ethnic, education and civic societies.

"First and foremost, I have my family," Chico says. "That's a lot of joy, let me tell you."

Chico is married to Sunny Abello, who, as a Batavia Republican, once ran an unsuccessful challenge against state Sen. Chris Lauzen. The couple have five kids between them.

Chico's ability to form more informal bipartisan unions impressed former state Sen. Steve Raushenberger, an Elgin Republican. As chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Raushenberger remembers Chicago school board president Chico was good at "reaching out to Republicans and suburbanites in particular."

Raushenberger, now a consultant, says he thought he and Chico were most qualified for that Senate job. If, as Chico desires, Obama wins the White House, Gov. Rod Blagojevich will appoint someone to fill Obama's Senate seat.

Chico could be interested.

"Good citizens never turn down people who ask for help running the government," Chico says. "I ran for that job at one time."

Once a victim of Obama's success, Chico could be a beneficiary of it as well.