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Democrat Cermak had the firm if not ardent support of such famed Chicagoans as William Ruggles Dawes, Silas Hardy Strawn, Julius Rosenwald and Frank Jo seph Loesch. He kept his campaign on a nice, colorless plane. He harped on police reform, aid to the jobless, reduced taxes. But voters took his promises at a discount because his own record was that of a routine politician who had risen to the top of his party. When Thompson assailed him as "that pushcart peddler," he promptly organized a parade of pushcart peddlers who vowed to vote for him. Plump and precise, bespectacled and benevolent, he kept repeating: "Chicago needs a business man for Mayor. . . . Take the circus from City Hall. . . . Chase away the grafters. . . . Bring honesty back into the Government. . . . Cut out its graft. . . . Stop the log-rolling."