 Shiller and Turley challenged Axelrod in 1979 . An extra alarm fire early on Friday , February 9 , 1979 , weeks before the election , caused extensive damage to the building containing Shiller 's campaign headquarters and left 15 homeless . The Chicago Tribune endorsed Axelrod . Shiller ( 6 @,@ 852 votes ; 46 % ) bested Axelrod ( 6 @,@ 088 votes ; 40 % ) , but , as no candidate received a majority of the vote in the three @-@ way race , a run @-@ off was forced . The Chicago Tribune and Turley endorsed Axelrod in the run @-@ off . The Chicago Tribune wrote that " Ms. Shiller 's program shares many elements with that of the Black Panthers and appears to be based on hopes of an eventual " revolution " [ not defined ] . " Turley described Axelrod as " the lesser of two evils in the race now . " Axelrod enlisted 40 volunteer attorneys and 200 off @-@ duty policemen to challenge ghost voting in a project he called " Operation Safeguard . " Axelrod challenged 1 @,@ 060 voter registrations on the ward 's rolls , 931 of which were upheld by the Chicago Board of Elections Commissioners . Axelrod defeated Shiller in the run @-@ off by 247 votes . Shiller later recalled the campaign : 
