Mayor Daley’s two main challengers in the upcoming election, Dock Walls and Dorothy Brown, were more than a little peeved at Obama’s endorsement of hizzoner.

Bill “Dock” Walls called Obama’s endorsement of the mayor’s campaign a mistake and said it showed the senator’s political immaturity.

Walls called Daley the “godfather of corruption in Chicago” and said the endorsement will leave Obama on the “wrong side of history.” […]

Brown said she found it hard to believe Obama looked at Daley’s “whole record” and missed the level of corruption that has surrounded the mayor. She said she spoke to Obama just before his announcement Monday.

“I cautioned him about making such an endorsement because of how it will appear; especially given the extent of the corruption and scandals plaguing the Daley administration the past 17 years,” Brown said in a statement Monday.

Archpundit, responding to an opinion writer over at Election Central who said he was “surprised” that Obama didn’t endorse Brown, had this to say:

It took me a bit to stop laughing. I pointed out in comments Meeks called her a loser (and since apologized), but the larger thing is that no one of any import in Illinois is going to endorse someone against Daley unless someone like Jackson Jr. ran. […]

…endorsing a member of your party is hardly earth shattering behavior. […]

We have people who are pure in who they back and we call them Greens, Constitution Law Party Members and Libertarians. Good for them.

The Election Central writer in question, Eric Kleefeld, had this response to another sharp critique of his post, which claimed his commentary was the “the silliest statement I’ve ever seen on this site.”

It might not be surprising for Obama himself, but with all respect it is surprising to see a major black politician in this country endorsing a white candidate over a black one, whether we like it or not. If Jesse Jackson were running for President, do you think he’d go out of his way to endorse Daley?

To which ArchPundit sets him straight, pointing out that Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., the reverend’s son, supported Forrest Claypool (white) against John Stroger (black) and Obama was neutral in the contest.

There are two schools of thought, here. One is that by endorsing Daley, Obama will fall victim to the ol’ “smear a geographic region” game, like the “Taxachussets liberal” phrase that was so popular in two presidential campaigns. This time it will be “Obama’s that guy from the corrupt Chicago machine.” Some also argue that the Daley endorsement can’t help much, because he already has Illinois and Chicago locked up, so it will only hurt.

The other, which I haven’t seen mentioned in print or online yet, is that Daley is hugely popular among his fellow mayors throughout the country. That gives him a large national network he can tap for Obama. A call from Daley to any mayor in the nation could do wonders for Obama, regardless of Daley’s problems at home. The mayors gush all over Daley.

Then, of course, there’s Bill Daley, who ran Gore’s campaign and SBC, and therefore has plenty of national and bigtime corporate connections.

Thoughts?