It might look like coincidence. But there's nothing coincidental about the Daleys. They're not fools. They're not dreamers. They're planners.

Yet what's often left out of the official account of the Billy ascendency is his role as media manager. For decades now, Billy's been playing the role of background source to many establishment media types.

It's a role he might well continue to play even as Obama's major-domo.

A politician acting as a reliable source over years gets a break. And given the early coverage -- and the beltway media's historic reluctance to let readers in on the political back story of those who move to Washington -- it looks like Billy will be getting a break for quite some time.

Washington reporters hoping to maintain favor with the Chicago gatekeeper would be advised to stay away from the following topics while researching the glowing puff pieces to come.

Don't ask about Billy at Fannie Mae and his little buddy Rahm at Freddie Mac in the 1990s, or how that huge SBC deal went through in Illinois in 2003 when Billy was SBC president.

Don't ask about those meetings back in Chicago, in the early 1990s, when Billy and family adviser Tim Degnan and others helped create those City Hall patronage armies -- which were later involved in illegal hiring -- to keep Rich Daley in power and elect allies like Emanuel to Congress.

And for Pete's sake, never ask about the Chicago Way.