Chicago Sun-Times: [ Batteries Not Included... ]

Batteries Not Included, a boutique tucked into North Halsted Street, is a favorite Boys Town destination for sexual paraphernalia and kinky gag gifts. Its current window display depicts a surreal tea service from "Alice in Wonderland," a playful and flamboyant homage to 44th Ward Ald. Tom Tunney, the first gay to serve in the Chicago City Council.

There's a caricature of Tunney as the Mad Hatter. A banner proclaims, "It's Tunney Time!"

Two months ago, the popular owner of Ann Sather's restaurant, a longtime Lake View fixture, looked like a runaway winner in the volatile five-way race for alderman. Veteran Ald. Bernie Hansen had resigned for health reasons and engineered the appointment of Tunney by Mayor Daley to fill out his term.

The elfin Tunney is well-loved. He's got incumbency, endorsements from--it seems--every prominent pol in Chicago. The media have given him carte blanche. He's a really nice guy, and best of all, he's got Ann Sather's legendary sticky buns.

In the Feb. 25 election, three candidates dominate the hot contest in the 44th Ward contest for the area that stretches through Lake View from Lake Michigan to Damen: Tunney, Rick Ingram, an attorney and community activist who also is openly gay, and Dean Maragos, a 30- year ward resident and lawyer who has represented the rooftop bars near Wrigley Field.

By all the measurements, Tunney is leading the pack.

But Tunney's time may be running out. And the gay community may have to wait at least four more years to make electoral history. That's too bad. I agree with the gay advocates who say the time for a gay alderman is now. Access and equity for gays and lesbians and transgendered is the next big civil rights challenge. They comprise 10 percent of the population. As an African American, I know how important it is to elect not just people who agree with us but who are us.

The 1983 election of Harold Washington as Chicago's first black mayor opened the doors to City Hall for people of color and progressives. But in 1989, Washington's legacy was shattered by two would-be successors who split the black vote and let Daley breeze in. It's been Daley Hall ever since.

History could repeat itself in the 44th. Much has been made of the gay vote, but even advocates like Rick Garcia of Equality Illinois, a gay rights group, estimate the ward is, at most, 20 percent gay. That means it's also 80 percent straight.

To win outright, Tunney needs more than 50 percent of the vote. That will be tough. It's a six-way race, and he's splitting the gay base with Ingram. Tunney has enough crossover appeal to come in first. But Maragos will be second.

And that's when Tunney's trouble really begins.

If Tunney doesn't win in the first round, there's a very good chance he won't win at all.

In a one-on-one contest in the April 1 runoff, Maragos has the natural advantage. He's straight, and he can go head-to-head with Tunney on fund-raising and organization.

The gay bar owners on Halsted would gladly shift their allegiance and cash from Ingram to Tunney in the runoff, but Maragos has ties to the straight bar and business owners on Clark Street and beyond.

And among straights, there's a fear--grounded or not--that gays want to take over the ward. That could be polarizing. Straights may not be hostile to the idea, but having a gay alderman is not going to turn them on or out.

Maragos is not conceding the gay vote. He boasts a gay campaign manager. He's worked many gay events. He won't get many votes out of it, and he knows it. But it's an insurance policy to inoculate him against anti-gay charges.

There are few major differences among the leading candidates. They are all concerned about overdevelopment in the ward. They bicker among themselves about who is most pro-community and who is the most independent. Yet both Tunney and Maragos have plastered their names next to Daley's over every available surface in the ward.

That's because Daley runs the city, not the aldermen. Most voters just want their garbage picked up. All the candidates can handle that.

But if your bottom line is electing a gay alderman, beware: You are playing Russian roulette. A vote for Ingram is a nod to Maragos.

And by the way, Tom: I may be the only Lake View resident who shuns your sticky buns. They're hell on my thighs.

Split gay vote likely to result in loss of 44th Ward seat