Ah, yes, this is how it's done in Chicago. Emil Jones, Jr., Barack Obama's political "Godfather" and the man who once said about Obama to a colleague, "I'm gonna make me a U.S. Senator," is retiring from office and has already put plans in motion to bequeath his State Senate seat to his son:

Jones, 72, began the process of handing off his Senate seat to Emil Jones III by filing paperwork Monday with the State Board of Elections to drop himself from the Nov. 4 ballot. Next, Democratic Party leaders in Jones' South Side and south suburban Senate district will choose a replacement. [snip]

Emil Jones III, 31, has kept a low profile. He worked for the state between May 1999 and November 2006, when he briefly left the payroll.

Despite not having a college degree, he was hired in April 2007 as an administrator for Gov. Blagojevich's Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity -- a job that pays $59,436 annually. Attempts to reach him Monday were unsuccessful.

A handful of ward and suburban township committeemen are expected to sign off on Jones III's selection sometime before an Aug. 28 state deadline to get on the ballot.

This sort of back room, machine politics is hardly unique - indeed in Chicago it could (sadly) be considered the norm.

What is unique is that Barack Obama, who came up through the Chicago machine and whose meteoric rise to become US Senator was made possible by the likes of old style ward bosses like Emil Jones, has constructed his candidacy around the idea that he's an agent of change and reform who will deliver a new style of politics.