Note to Right: Hyde Park Is Neither Liberal nor Elite

Lefty enclave is racially mixed, but lofty

(NEWSER) - "It is the most racially integrated neighborhood in the nation's most racially segregated city," Andrew Ferguson writes in the Weekly Standard of the area in south Chicago Barack Obama calls home. It's a college town, a lefty enclave where the moneyed mix with boho bookworms, and "NPR announcer" types walk the streets wearing wire rims and backpacks. But Hyde Park isn't an ordinary college town, it's an unusually isolated one—an island in the middle of a slum. More»

Unclear if feds will kick in more than $1.5M

(NEWSER) - The Chicago police have spent at least $2.2 million watching over Barack Obama’s home since his November election, city documents reveal. The federal government will reimburse the $1.5 million racked up from November until the January inauguration, but the city is on its own for the $650,000 it's spent since, the Chicago Tribune reports. The revelation comes as the Police Department struggles with budget woes. More»

President-elect must adapt to being country's most protected man

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama is learning to live with the fact that his life has changed forever, the New York Times reports. The first president since Nixon to be elected while living in an urban neighborhood is spending some quality time at home while managing the transition, but his Hyde Park neighborhood has been turned into something of an armed fortress. The streets around his home have been closed to traffic, and residents and pre-cleared visitors must show picture ID at checkpoints. More»

(NEWSER) - President Obama’s campaign has set up a new take on its old “Fight the Smears” concept… only this time it’s a lot less friendly looking. Gone is the white-and-blue motif, replaced with an ominous red-and-black site called " Attack Watch "—and conservatives appear to find it hilarious. Seemingly every tweet using the suggested #attackwatch tag has been a conservative either mocking the site, or decrying it as a scary Big Brother exercise, the Wall Street Journal reports, offering examples:

• “@thorninaz I saw someone purposely squeeze the Charmin in the grocery store”
• “@Drill_Thrawl Hey Kids, are mommy and daddy talking bad about Obama? Be sure to report them at #attackwatch #1984"
• “@JLMandl I’m still using REAL LIGHT BULBS. Come get me!”

Site tries to fight perception of social ineptitude

(NEWSER) - The University of Chicago may be known as a bastion of sexless nerd-dom, but some undergrads are changing that with UChicago Hookups , a website that allows students to meet up for, well, whatever they might have in mind. Entries read more or less like the casual-encounters section of Craigslist: people drop notes looking for casual sex, just makeouts, or even a "cuddle buddy," the Chicago Tribune reports. More»