Does anyone around Memphis remember Cheryle Robinson, now Cheryle Robinson Jackson, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Illinois? The Chicago Sun-Times ran a series of candidate profiles today, and Jackson's briefly mentions her time in Memphis.
FIRST JOB: "Drawing maps on computers freshman year at Northwestern. In Memphis, I worked as a waitress. I almost got fired my first day because I didn't sound Southern enough."
According to her campaign bio, Jackson was born in Chicago but moved to Memphis as an infant with her family in the mid-1960s. The family lived in East Memphis, and Jackson attended White Station High School. After earning her degree at Northwestern, she did graduate work at the University of Memphis, then began her career at WKNO before moving on to National Public Radio. More recently, she was a regional vice president for Amtrak and a press secretary for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and now she is the president of the Chicago Urban League.
The Senate primary in Illinois is Feb. 2. The seat up for grabs is the one formerly held by Barack Obama, and shrouded in controversy around the appointment by Blagojevich of current Sen. Roland Burris. Huffington Post broke down the latest primary polls and said Alexi Giannoulias maintains a comfortable lead on the Democratic side. However, HuffPo adds that Jackson could make up some ground in the next week.
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If you're still on the fence: grab your favorite earphones, head down to a Best Buy and ask to plug them into a Zune then an iPod and see which one sounds better to you, and which interface makes you smile more. Then you'll know which is right for you.