The Making of a Litmus Test

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The struggle in Chicago may seem atavistic at a time when Americans would like to believe that overt bigotry is a diminishing phenomenon. There are now 15 major cities that have black mayors, including Los Angeles, Atlanta, New Orleans and Washington. In some ways Chicago is a special case: two-thirds of its neighborhoods are 95% white or 95% black. And because there is otherwise so little to choose between the two lackluster candidates, the outcome will surely be read, right or wrong, as a litmus test on color.

—By Walter Isaacson. Reported by Christopher Ogden/Chicago