Richard M. Daley, Chicago's mayor, is 66 years old, the same age as his father, Richard J. Daley, when the elder Daley presided over the 1968 Democratic convention that tore his party apart.

The son, still known as "Richie" after 19 years in office, also sits at the same heavy wooden desk on the fifth floor of City Hall where his father held court from 1955 to 1976.