Chicago labor lawyer and renowned author Tom Geoghegan officially announced today that he will be running for the House seat (IL-5) that Rahm Emanuel is vacating. Here's part of his announcement:

For years we’ve heard the doomsayers: “We can’t afford Social Security.” “We can’t afford ‘single payer’ national health.” One thing we all learned from the $700 billion bailout: We’ve got the money to do all of this and more. At the moment, the Federal Reserve is literally printing money, to give not billions but trillions to banks and financial firms. To the people of this District, the banks and others have gotten their money. Now it’s your turn.

Tom has been clamoring to raise Social Security for years (see this 2006 ITT essay, one of my personal favorites.) In These Times can't legally endorse candidates, but I don't see why I can't dispassionately link to James Fallows' endorsement or to this post by Kathy G., explaining why she thinks Tom is a "mensch and hero."

Tom's also answering questions in the Comments section of this Daily Kos post, so if you've ever wanted to ask him something, here's your chance. Readers wondering how (theoretically) they might go about giving financial support to Tom might also find some information of interest there as well.