Let’s be honest: Nothing, not even a signed admission from Rahm Emanuel that he abandoned Chicago, was going to lead the Chicago elections board to disqualify Barack Obama’s chief of staff from becoming the next mayor. What a Democratic hack wants, a Democratic hack gets.

Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel can run for Chicago mayor although he spent much of the last two years living in Washington while working for President Barack Obama, the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners ruled Thursday.

With the board’s decision, Emanuel clears a major hurdle in his bid to replace retiring Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. Officials have tried to expedite mayoral ballot challenges before the Feb. 22 vote, and the board’s decision is almost sure to be challenged in the courts.

An election board hearing officer, who had presided over days of testimony in residency challenges to Emanuel’s candidacy, recommended early Thursday that Emanuel’s name be allowed on the ballot, saying evidence suggests that he had no intention of terminating his residency in Chicago, left the city only to work for Obama and often told friends he intended to live in Washington for no more than two years.

“Illinois law expressly protects the residential status and electoral rights of Illinois residents who are called to serve the national government,” hearing officer Joseph Morris , a Republican attorney in private practice in Chicago, wrote in his 35-page ruling.

“National service” is leaving to take a highly-paid political position in the White House? Wow. Most people hear “national service” and think military service or elected office. But if Rahm Emanuel needed “national service” to mean “highly-paid political position”, that’s how it was going to be defined.