* I’m sure they’ll find a way to do it, but I don’t think anyone can say that Joe Morris was unfair to the people objecting to Rahm Emanuel’s candidacy during yesterday’s 11-hour hearing.

Morris only lost his cool a couple of times. Objector Jeffrey Joseph Black was going on and on about some weird thing or another and claiming that Morris was helping covering up for Emanuel, Morris finally said “I don’t know if I have contempt powers, but I’m getting close to wanting to find out.”

He probably should’ve done that before the hearing. Check out this exchange with Black…

“Did you travel to Waco, Texas three days prior to or three days after April 19, 1993?” Objector Jeffrey Joseph Black asked, referring to the government’s raid on a cult compound during the Clinton administration.

“No,” Emanuel said.

“Have you ever heard the term, ‘Smiling like a butcher’s dog?’” Black asked Emanuel.

Hearing officer Joe Morris cut off Black, saying, “You are allowed to treat the witness like a hostile witness — you are not allowed to be hostile to the witness.”

Emanuel enjoyed an extended laugh.

Another objector asked Emanuel if he was a citizen of Israel and if he was a “freedom fighter” for Israel.

And…

Another, a woman named Zakiyyah Muhammad, wanted to know what role Emanuel played in the U.S. Agriculture Department’s request that Shirley Sherrod leave her job as Georgia’s director of rural development after comments she made in March were misconstrued as racist.

Sheesh.

* If you have time, take a look at the video of some of the objectors’ oftentimes bizarre and almost uniformally ill-informed “questions”…

* Black Alleges Conspiracy Involving Emanuel, Election Officials: Perhaps the most combative of all the objectioners, Black goes after Joseph Morris, the election hearing commissioner, and alleges a wide cover-up to allow Emanuel on the ballot. Morris continually strikes Black’s questions and statements and takes him to task for his line of questioning.

* Queen Sister Georgetta Deloney Offers Statements, Few Questions: This activist makes arguments, rather than asks questions of the witness. She asks Emanuel how, if it’s been a life-long dream to be mayor of Chicago, he wouldn’t have had the forethought to make sure he had residency in the city. Morris jumps in and clarifies that it’s exactly what Emanuel thought he’d done.

* Paul McKinley Asks About Residency, Communism: After asking questions that had already been addressed earlier in the day, election commissioner Joseph Morris seems to nearly beg for an appropriate question from objector Paul McKinley. He ultimately asks: “Have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?”

* Kass makes a good point…

Just imagine Daley in Emanuel’s spot Tuesday with citizens brazenly asking questions. He’d have been a jabbering pile of goo after only an hour, pulling at his collar, sighing, perhaps threatening to take his pants off as he’s done at least twice in the past.

Or he could very well have done a full-blown Mayor Chucky, striking terror into everyone at the board of elections hearing.

That same thought crossed my mind about Daley as well. Can you imagine? Oy.

* But Kass is completely wrong to claim that state law is cut and dried on this issue…

The wacky behavior helped Rahm by diverting attention away from the facts and the law. And though some pundits and Rahministas develop a terrible case of hives when I mention it, Illinois law is quite clear on this residency issue.

It simply states that anyone wishing to run for mayor of Chicago must have lived in the city for at least a year prior to the election. And we know Rahm did not.

The law doesn’t say “lived” it says “resided,” and “resided” is a legal term. Legal terms are open to interpretation and that’s what this case is all about. The statute…

A person is not eligible for an elective municipal office unless that person is a qualified elector of the municipality and has resided in the municipality at least one year next preceding the election or appointment, except as provided in subsection (c) of Section 3.1-20-25, subsection (b) of Section 3.1-25-75, Section 5-2-2, or Section 5-2-11.

* Mark Brown understands…

What’s left here is a legal question of whether Emanuel did enough to preserve his Chicago residency, an issue Emanuel admitted Tuesday he’d never even contemplated until lawyer Burt Odelson raised the matter after Emanuel signaled his intention to run.

Emanuel says he and his family always intended to return here and kept the Ravenswood house as their official legal residence. Odelson, an election law specialist who I would characterize as the one serious objector, maintains Emanuel abandoned his legal residency when he rented out the house and didn’t take another place.

As I’ve said, I think it’s a legitimate question to raise, although one that ought to be eventually resolved in favor of Emanuel. He shouldn’t have forfeited his right to run for public office here on the basis of serving the president of the United States. It’s certainly possible that the Supreme Court of Illinois will decide otherwise.

* The end of the hearing was interesting, however. Emanuel has so far succeeded in convincing Morris not to call his wife to the stand. But he was forced to admit that perhaps his wife would know more about certain aspects of the case under questioning. We’ll see.

* In other news, the Chicago Tribune has a new poll showing Rahm Emanuel leading the pack with 32 percent. Gery Chico and Danny Davis are tied for second, but are in single digits at 9 percent…

Davis, an African-American political veteran who also served on the City Council and the Cook County Board, was backed by 21 percent of black voters, but just 2 percent of Hispanics and 1 percent of whites.

Among blacks, 30 percent are undecided, 19 percent back Emanuel, 13 percent favor Meeks and 10 percent are for Braun. Burris, once a popular African-American politician, had just 3 percent support among blacks.

Chico — of Latino, Greek and Lithuanian heritage — had 15 percent support among whites, 12 percent among Hispanics and just 2 percent among blacks.

Chico and del Valle combined trail Emanuel in the Latino community. Among likely Hispanic voters, 36 percent are undecided, 27 percent favor Emanuel, 14 percent del Valle and 12 percent Chico.

The Chico campaign is claiming that Emanuel is losing support even as he spends cash. From an internal campaign memo…

After spending well over a million dollars on television ads, our internal polling shows that Rahm’s support has actually decreased by four percent – and despite not having run a single campaign ad – Gery’s numbers have risen by five percent. A nine- point swing before Christmas is a great start.

* Related…

* The ‘Waco’ wacko and other goofballs make high comedy of the Emanuel hearing

* Woman renting Rahm Emanuel’s home to testify at residency hearing in his Chicago mayoral bid: Lori Halpin is scheduled to testify Wednesday. Halpin and her husband made headlines when they refused Emanuel’s request to break the lease on the house so Emanuel could move back in.