The Philadelphia Inquirer described him as "the longtime boss of the Democratic City Committee, one of the few old-fashioned big-city political machines left.

Easterners, who grew up in the shadow of big-city political machines that drew hard lines between parties, sometimes confuse being bipartisan with being nonpolitical.

Solidarity House, the national headquarters, controls favors and finances like an old-style big-city political machine, and the national leadership is shielded by a convention system of election.

So blinding is the glow of nostalgia that he laments the passing of big-city political machines, never mind that they were fueled by cash and contracts.

Well, we can't go into an election with Bryan with a candidate who's the invention of the big-city machines.

Still Seats of Power The days of the big-city machines may be over.

The county that once delivered services, jobs and Republican votes as deftly as a big-city political machine is swerving closer to financial disaster.

The big-city machines faded away in the 1940s, with a few exceptions, especially Albany and Chicago.

To the Democrats' basic elements, "a coalition of big-city machines, trial lawyers, union leaders, left-wing activists and political incumbents."

In some sense resembling the boss of an American big-city political machine, Mr. Chea Sim is concerned with patronage - "jobs for the boys."