It seems as though Rahm Emanuel is looking for a job soon and he has his sights set on becoming mayor of Chicago one day. After Daley steps aside, of course.
After earlier putting out the word he was interested in being may of Chicago, then denying such a thing, he has now fessed up and admitted to Charlie Rose he would like to be mayor of Chicago.
"I hope Mayor Daley seeks re-election. I will work and support him if he seeks re-election," said Emanuel, 50. "But if Mayor Daley doesn't, one day I would like to run for mayor of the City of Chicago. That's always been an aspiration of mine even when I was in the House of Representatives."
Rahm Emanuel, the President's chief-of-staff.
The problem is that Rahm Emanuel is unelectable as mayor of Chicago. Outside of the Congressional district where Emanuel served as Congressman, Emanuel has no familiarity with the voters of Chicago and has never showed interest in such a thing.
One of Emanuel's strengths in running for may is his fund raising ability and his vast network of friends that will donate to an Emanuel campaign. This network of friends, though, is a fickle bunch and will abandon him quickly if they sense any weakness.
And Emanuel's main weakness is he doesn't understand the new political order in Chicago. The recent victory of Toni Preckwinkle has changed the political landscape when Preckwinkle receive 45.98% of the vote against three other very strong candidates. One was the incumbent Board President. Another white candidate had some regular party support. And yet Preckwinkle prevailed.
It has been changing since 2004 when Barack Obama received 66.56% of the vote in Chicago in a crowded field of candidates that included a Democratic party regular.
Barack Obama ran a real grassroots campaign in that election. Because of changes in how political work can be done and rewarded, this worked to Obama's advantage. It has also worked to the advantage of some other candidates who had the ability to tap into the grassroots organizations. Candidates such as Debra Shore and Alexi Giannoulias in 2006, who had no regular party backing, yet performed exceptionally well. These are groups that typically have 20, 30, 50 working members but are very passionate about what they do. And there are dozens of these groups in Chicago. A dozen here. A dozen there, and pretty soon it all adds up to some real votes.
And incredibly, none are paid for their work nor are any of them tied to any monetary reward for the work performed.
There are a plethora of candidates waiting to jump in should Daley decide to step aside. David Hoffman, Daley's former Inspector General for the City of Chicago for the past four years, is eager to jump in after a respectable showing in a run for United States Senate. Even with Daley in the race, I predict Hoffman will run. And with a fair chance of defeating Daley.
Besides, many in the grassroots movement have not forgiven Emanuel for the dumping of Christine Cegelis, a big favorite of the grassroots movement, in favor of Tammy Duckworth for Congress. And include myself in that group because now we are stuck with Peter Roskam in the 6th Congressional District for a long time. I don't pretend to know who will succeed Daley when he steps aside, but it will not be Rahm Emanuel.
Chicago City Hall Examiner and The Chicago Grassroots Political Examiner.
John is the author of a book published by The Elevator Group Mr. and Mrs. Grassroots: How Barack Obama, two Bookstore Owners, and 300 Volunteers did it. Also available an eBook on Amazon.