Why Aren’t Urban Pols Talking About Transit?

As Matthew Yglesias, associate editor at the Atlantic Monthlyand a frequent commenter on transit and politics, told me in an email,"The biggest obstacle, probably, is that a lot of politicians whoshould be on the right side of this aren't." He cites Sen. ChuckSchumer (D-N.Y.), who "ought to be leading the charge in the Senate,but instead he's big on opportunistic attacks on the Bushadministration for gasoline being too expensive," and Rep. Rahm Emanuel(D-Ill.), who "represents Chicago but doesn't show much leadership onthis." As Yglesias puts it, "A lot of politicians from smaller citiesor suburbs must be looking at guys like that and saying, 'If they don't want to take this on, then I'd really better stay away.'"