The former king of Chicago politics just passed away today.

A true master of compromise in the "smoke filled rooms" of the old days in Washington, when Dems and Repubs worked together to get things done.

In those days, closed door meetings were where legislators, who usually liked each other on a personal basis, sorted thru legislation and deals were made out of the public eye until they were ready to be announced.

Too bad that isn't the way it's done now - today politicians only fight in public all of the time, in an attempt be "transparent".

Dan was one of the good ones, even though he did a stint in jail on some corruption charges that were actually nothing more than violations of internal House rules.  And yes, he was a Dem.