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Who really runs Chicago? According to Chicago Magazine, it is a collection of leaders in politics, business, sports and food.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel

Earlier this month, the magazine came out with its list of the city’s 100 most powerful people. It’s a surprisingly diverse list, with some very familiar and not so familiar faces. (Oprah, whose Chicago-based show ended last year, is no longer on it.)

Steve Edwards at our partner station WBEZ recently talked about the list with Chicago Magazine editors David Bernstein and Marcia Froelke Coburn.

We broke down the Top 10 into four categories.

Politics: In a city where politics is in everyone’s DNA, it’s no surprise that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is the most powerful person in Chicago. He’s joined in the top 10 by three other politicians: U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, and President Obama’s campaign strategist, David Axelrod.

Business: Even though McDonald’s is one of the biggest companies in the Midwest, and global powerhouse, you might not know its low-keyCEO, Jim Skinner. A much more recognizable name in Chicago is Penny Pritzker, the founder and CEO of Pritzker Realty, and a major philanthropist.

The top 10 list also includes Eric Lefkofsky, a Southfield, Mich., native who is co-founder and chairman of GroupOn (its CEO, Andrew Mason, comes in at No 11).

Sports: In a sports-mad city, it’s no surprise to see two people associated with Chicago’s teams on the list. They are Rocky Wirtz, chairman of the Chicago Blackhawks, and Derrick Rose, the star point guard with the Chicago Bulls.

Food: Chef Grant Achatz, whose restaurant Alinea is considered to be one of the best in America, is the leading chef on the list. He’s another native of Michigan whose family is in the pie business back home.

Read the complete Chicago Magazine list here. Did they leave anybody off that you feel should have been included?

A new poll by NBC News shows Mitt Romney taking a narrow lead over Rick Santorum in the race to win Michigan’s Republican primary next Tuesday.

The NBC poll, out Wednesday, showed 37 percent of likely voters support the former Massachusetts governor, while 35 percent support the former Pennsylvania senator. To statisticians, that’s within the margin of error, meaning a statistical tie.

“Michigan is neck and neck,” said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the NBC survey.

That’s a big change from last week, when Santorum led Romney in two Michigan polls.

When it comes to the November election, President Barack Obama would defeat Romney by nearly 20 percentage points in Michigan, the poll found. He would defeat Santorum by 22 points.

Meanwhile, the Santorum campaign said a daily tracking poll  by the Gallup Organization showed the former senator maintaining a national lead of 36 percent to 26 percent among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents.

On Wednesday, Romney won the endorsement of the Detroit News, which said he had a “refreshing free market vision for restoring the nation’s prosperity.”

Romney, meanwhile, touched on one of the most-discussed issues in Midwest politics on Tuesday. He told an audience in Shelby Township, Mich., that he supports a Right to Work law for Michigan, according to our partner station Michigan Radio.

He hasn’t made any secret of his support for the legislation, which would prevent unions from charging mandatory dues if workers chose not to join. Indiana recently became the first Great Lakes state to enact Right to Work legislation, and the first in the U.S. to adopt it in a decade.

But his support of Right to Work puts him at odds with Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who endorsed him last week. Snyder has said Right to Work is not a priority for his administration, and thinks the measure could distract from the state’s economic agenda.

You can read all of Changing Gears’ coverage of the Michigan primary here.

A new poll out Monday shows the Michigan Republican primary race is tightening. Public Policy Polling says former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is down to four percent.

PPP’s earlier poll showed Santorum with a 15 percent lead over Romney, raising the prospect that the Michigan born candidate was in danger of losing his home state. It was one of two polls showing Santorum ahead.

Romney’s gain is coming as he spends more time in Michigan ahead of next Tuesday’s primary.

Says PPP: ”What we’re seeing in Michigan is a very different story from Florida where Romney surged by effectively destroying his opponent’s image. Here, Romney’s gains have more to do with building himself up.”

Santorum has double digit leads among Protestant voters, union members, evangelical Christians, Tea Party members, people describing themselves as “very conservative” and men.

Romney is leading with women, seniors, moderates, people who say they are “somewhat conservative” and Roman Catholics. Last week, Romney gained the endorsement of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. On Sunday, he held a conference call with voters. According to the Detroit Free Press, he asked a woman from Franklin, Mich., if its cider mill was still there (it is).

Romney is set to be in Jackson, Mich., on Monday, while Santorum is campaigning on the west side of the state. Santorum picked up his own key endorsement although not in Michigan. On Friday, he drew the backing of Ohio’s attorney general, Mike DeWine, who used to be a Romney supporter.

Ohio holds its primary as part of Super Tuesday on March 6.

First, Changing Gears brought you a handy guide to making a hard-scrabble documentary about Detroit. Now, we’re welcoming the flocks of political reporters who are descending on the Midwest with our How-To Guide For Midwest Primary Stories.

Photo via Greentech.com

We’re dividing this into two parts: Michigan, which holds its primary on Feb. 28, and Ohio, which is part of Super Tuesday. Save it for this fall, because you can do these stories all over again!

Today, we’ll tackle the Great Lakes State.

Michigan

It’s possible to cover the Michigan primary by staying within 60 miles of Detroit. Why drive farther than you have to?

Here are suggestions that barely require you to move from your room at the Marriott in the Renaissance Center or the Westin Book Cadillac (or the Holiday Inn Express, if your news organization is on a tight budget):

1) Lafayette Coney Island. It’s the one place in downtown Detroit that’s been visited by every political reporter since the time of Lincoln. Okay, Wilson.

Interview the countermen, and the customers, get the required shot of a chili dog, and enjoy food that you secretly would like to eat every day, if your doctor didn’t give you that lecture every year about getting more exercise. (There’s also American Coney Island but don’t tell them that you went to Lafayette first.)

2) Visit a car plant at shift change time. The easiest one to find is the Chrysler plant on Jefferson Avenue, a few miles east of downtown. It’s officially called the Jefferson North Assembly Plant, or J-NAP. (Like Wet-nap.)

Everyone who works at the plant has been on ABC, NBC, NPR or in the Washington Post at least once. They’ll be sound bite ready and happy for you to stop their car as they’re leaving after their shift.

3) Drive a deserted Detroit street. Ah, ruin porn. Every story needs crumbling homes and empty streets. In a city whose population has dropped from about 2 million in 1950 to around 717,000 now, you have plenty of options. Of course, the neighborhood you visit might have been abandoned in the Eisenhower era, but don’t let that get in the way.

Vacant homes in Detroit. Photo: Mary's Detroit Photoblog

Suggested routes: Grand River heading away from downtown, Cass Avenue (until you get to Wayne State University, then forget about your whole empty city premise), and Brush Park, just north of Comerica Park. For a rarely seen take on this theme, drive 60 miles north to Flint.

4) Do the “Canadian perspective” story. Hey, that’s Windsor, Ontario, right across the Detroit River! And there’s a tunnel right downtown? And a Tim Horton’s at the other end? We’re there.

What do these friendly people in Canada think of the crazy American electoral process? As with the Chrysler workers, they’re used to that question, so they’ll have a ready answer. And, for the best sound, see if you can get them to us “about” and “eh” in a sentence. That will prove you were there.

If you didn’t bring your passport (yes, you need it to visit Canada now), go to Dearborn, and talk to Arab-Americans for an “Arab-American view of the election” story. Get a shot of an exotic ATM with English and Arabic. Shatila is always crowded and they’re open late, in case your coney dog has worn off.

5) Find a Reagan Democrat. That’s always an editor-pleaser. Never mind that Reagan last ran for re-election in 1984. If you can track one down, you’ve done a good day’s work. (Hint: it’s pronounced Mah-COMB County, not MAY-comb.)

6) Find someone who knew George Romney. This is Mitt Romney’s home state, right? And his dad was governor? Piece of cake. Drive to Bloomfield Hills, track down some Republican seniors, done.

Of course, Michigan is a culturally and geographically diverse state, and the views of voters in western Michigan, Lansing, Traverse City and the Upper Peninsula might be nothing like what you’ll discover in this guide. But, there are a LOT of primaries to still get through…

Next: Ohio. What (tongue in cheek) tips would you give political reporters who venture down to the Buckeye State?

UAW President Bob King referred last week to a “new movement for social justice” this spring, and now we know what he’s talking about. The UAW’s Facebook page on Thursday features a big photo promoting the 99% Spring, sending its readers to a new Web site called The99Spring.com.

The 99% Spring Protest Movement Gets Organized

The site speaks directly to the protests that took place in Wisconsin over Gov. Scott Walker’s push to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public employees. There’s a letter from its organizers, who include King, as well as a variety of union, political and other groups.

Declares the site, “In the tradition of our forefathers and foremothers and inspired by today’s brave heroes in Occupy Wall Street and Madison, Wisconsin, we will prepare ourselves for sustained non-violent direct action.”

From April 9-15, the site says, its supporters will gather across the country — “100,000 strong, in homes, places of worship, campuses and the streets to join together in the work of reclaiming our country.”

The site says there will be training programs to a) tell the story of the economy b) learn the history of non-violent direct action and c) launch campaigns to win change.

There’s nothing more specific, but the site adds,

“This spring we rise! We will reshape our country with our own hands and feet, bodies and hearts. We will take non-violent action in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi to forge a new destiny one block, one neighborhood, one city, one state at a time.”

Are you interested in participating in protests? What do you think about this approach?

Although the political spotlight is on Michigan’s Feb. 28 primary right now, there’s another good political story bubbling in the Great Lakes states.

Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar

Richard Lugar, who turns 80 in April, has been one of Indiana’s U.S. senators as long as a lot of people have been alive. He was first elected to the Senate in 1977, and he’s served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee twice. Before he was elected to the Senate, he was mayor of Indianapolis.

But Lugar, a Republican, may face a stiff challenge from within his own party. The Chicago Tribune reports that the Club for Growth, an influential conservative group, is endorsing Lugar’s primary opponent, Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock. 

The Club’s president, Chris Chocola, questioned some of the votes that Lugar has taken on fiscal issues in Washington.

Lugar voted in favor of a Congressional bailout for Detroit automakers, and more recently, the Indiana senator opposed a ban on earmarks that was pushed for by Republicans in the Senate.

Lugar’s internal polling shows him well ahead in the Indiana race, according to the Tribune. But if he were to face a tough challenge, or even lose the Senate race, it could be a blow to President Barack Obama. He has cited Lugar as one of his good friends when he was in the Senate, even though the pair are from different parties.

Yesterday, we told you that Michigan’s native son, Mitt Romney, has fallen behind former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum in two pre-primary polls. Now, Romney is firing back in the Detroit News. not at his rival, but at union leaders and Obama administration officials.

Romney touches on many themes about the 2009 auto industry bailout. You can read the entire op-ed here. We picked out three things and provide some context.

1) The UAW. Instead of standing up to union officials, Romney says President Obama “rewarded them” with stakes in General Motors and Chrysler.

The stakes he refers to are held by the health care trust fund that administers benefits for UAW members. But the UAW did not get the terms it wanted. The union originally sought a greater share of GM, only to accept a counter offer from the Treasury Department.

Meanwhile, the Treasury also owns about 33 percent of GM, out of an original 61 percent stake.

2) Sell GM shares. Romney calls on the government to divest itself of its ownership position in GM. “The shares need to be sold in a responsible fashion and the proceeds turned over to the nation’s taxpayers,” Romney says.

Treasury officials say they are acting responsibly. The department holds roughly 500 million GM shares. It made its initial sale when GM went public in 2010, but has waited to sell the rest, presumably expecting the share price to rise.

At the time, GM shares traded at $33. On Monday, they closed at $25.34.

That means the Treasury would get even less for GM shares than it did in 2010 if it sold them now. There would be no profit for American taxpayers, since the stock needs to sell around $50 a share for Treasury to break even on what GM received in bailout money.

3) Car company founders. Romney, writing about auto pioneers like William C. Durant, Henry Ford, and Walter Chrysler, says, “These giants never envisioned a role for government in their business, but relied on the hard work and commitment of private individuals.”

That didn’t work out so well for Durant. He went to East Coast bankers for help shortly after he founded GM in 1908. They agreed to provide financing, on the condition that he resign. Although Durant later regained control of GM, he was kicked out yet again by investors in 1920.

Conventional wisdom says there’s no way Mitt Romney can lose the Michigan Republican primary — after all, he was born in Detroit, grew up in suburban Oakland County, his father was governor, and he won the primary in 2008.

But two new polls show Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, leading Romney in Michigan, where the primary takes place Feb. 28.

According to USA TODAY, an American Research Group poll shows Santorum leading Romney 33 percent to 27 percent among likely Republican voters. Newt Gingrich has 21 percent. A poll by Public Policy Polling shows Santorum with 39 percent, to 24 percent for Romney.

According to PPP, only 26 percent of primary voters actually consider him to be a Michigan native, while 62 percent do not. Only 39 percent have a favorable opinion of his father, the late Gov. George Romney, while 46 percent have no opinion about him.

For all that, says PPP, “Santorum probably shouldn’t get too comfortable.” Only 47 percent of voters saythey’re strongly committed to their candidate and 53 percent are open to changing their minds in the next two weeks.

Romney and Santorum both have a series of appearances scheduled in Michigan in the next few weeks, including Romney’s Feb. 24 speech to the Economic Club of Detroit at Ford Field. Santorum now will make his own speech to the Econ Club on Thursday at Cobo Center.

This afternoon, our partner station WBEZ in Chicago  kicks off Afternoon Shift with Steve Edwards, a daily two-hour live talk show featuring a good friend of Changing Gears.

Steve Edwards, WBEZ

You’ve heard Steve as a co-host of Changing Gears’ specials and call-in shows. Most recently, he co-hosted our Changing Gears/WBEZ special, “Getting By.”

For Steve, a well-known voice in Chicago, it’s a homecoming to the airwaves. He served as host of Eight-Forty-Eight, the morning news program, from 1999 to 2007. His weekly feature, “The Best Game in Town” was a must listen during last year’s Chicago mayoral campaign.

Tune in weekdays from 2-4 pm CT (3-5 pm ET) for a lively mix of local and national topics, including news, politics and business stories. (Anyone with a background in manufacturing will get the meaning of the show’s name.)

Meanwhile, check out some of Steve’s best interviews.

In a Michael Jackson music video, or an episode of Soul Train, Michigan governor Rick Snyder and Indiana’s Mitch Daniels might challenge each other to a dance off over Right to Work.

Michael Jackson in "Bad"

Instead, we have Snyder’s latest interview, in which he says Indiana ought to be worrying more about Michigan’s comeback.

Some context: Indiana and Michigan have been competing for years to land factories and convince businesses to locate in each state.

One of the biggest reasons why Snyder sought reform of Michigan’s business taxes in 2011 was so that the state could be on a more level playing field. It didn’t help that Indiana won a corporate headquarters formerly located in Michigan right after the state’s tax package was signed.

Now, Daniels has upped the ante by signing Right to Work legislation, which prevents unions from charging mandatory dues even if they represent a workforce. Many experts have said Michigan could be the next state to get such a law.

But Daniels, in an interview with Stateline.org, continues to oppose Right to Work for Michigan — and gives his neighboring state an elbow.

Asked if he’s worried about the new Indiana law, Snyder replies,

“If anything, Indiana was probably getting more concerned that Michigan’s back. We’re doing a lot of good things for our employers, with workers comp reform, unemployment insurance reform, having a balanced budget, education reform.”

Snyder goes on to say that he’d like everyone in the region to get along. “I think a lot of the Midwest should all want to come back together, so that it’s not one state versus another state. In many respects, the Midwest was treated as flyover territory and we’re a great place to be, for quality of life and everything else.”

As for the Right to Work fight, the Michigan governor says, “…I view it as a divisive issue. If you look at what’s gone on in the states, you have to ask the question, now what’s going to get done in Indiana for the next year or two? The fight isn’t truly over. It creates an environment where people are not working together.”

Read the Stateline.org interview with Snyder here. And enjoy some classic Jackson moves.