A fifty-first state?

In grade school I remember hearing a great deal of talk wondering if Puerto Rico would become the fifty-first State to be admitted to the Union.

While such has not come about, there is a letter to the editor in today's State-Journal Register proposing a different fifty-first State: the city of Chicago:

I find it amazing that a candidate can carry a majority (almost all) of the counties in a state and still not win an election.

According to figures released in Wednesday’s State Journal-Register, out of 80 counties reporting vote totals, Bill Brady was carrying 78 of them. Cook County (Chicago) was the significant county Brady was not carrying.

It’s just another good reason why Illinois should be spit into two separate states, the state of Chicago and the state of Illinois.

I can't say I disagree. And neither would the Chicagoans I know.