Poll: Emanuel has early lead for Chicago mayor - Chicago Tribune

Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel is off to an early lead in the race for Chicago mayor, but there is plenty of room for other contenders in the crowded field as the fluid contest takes shape, a new Tribune/WGN poll found.

Emanuel had the support of 32 percent of voters, just ahead of 30 percent who were undecided, making him the only candidate in double-digits with more than two months before the Feb. 22 city election. He was well short of the outright majority needed to avoid an April runoff between the top two finishers.

First though, Emanuel has to survive a ballot challenge by those who say he doesn't qualify under rules requiring mayoral candidates to be Chicago residents for a year before the election. While several more of the 15 current candidates could be knocked off or drop out as the race gets serious, the poll showed a splintered field largely defined by name recognition.

Former Chicago Public Schools chief Gery Chico and U.S. Rep. Danny Davis each had 9 percent, with state Sen. James Meeks at 7 percent and former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun at 6 percent. City Clerk Miguel del Valle had 3 percent.

Former U.S. Sen. Roland Burris, whose intention to stay in the race is uncertain, had just 2 percent backing. None of the other candidates reached 1 percent in the poll of 721 registered, likely voters conducted Dec. 10-13, which has an error margin of 3.6 percentage points.

The poll came amid the holiday season, when voters typically are more focused on family and friends than politics, and before any of the major candidate forums have taken place. Nevertheless, the race has already become high-profile, with Emanuel running television commercials and many of the big-name candidates holding public events on a near-daily basis.

It's the first time in more than 60 years that a sitting Chicago mayor won't be on the ballot, after Mayor Richard Daley in September announced he would not run for re-election as he neared 22 years in office.

Although Daley's approval rating was sinking, he was still considered a formidable political foe, after years of building support that spanned the city's racial, ethnic and economic divisions. More than any other candidate so far, Emanuel also is bridging those gaps, the poll indicated.

The former North Side congressman is out front on the strength of his support from lakefront wards, white voters and the wealthy, according to the survey. He's also holding his own among Latino and African-American voters.

He has the support of more Hispanics than any other candidate, is backed by more blacks than anyone except Davis and enjoys the backing of 46 percent of whites. More than half of voters who live in households with more than $100,000 in annual income said they would vote for him.

Davis, an African-American political veteran who also served on the City Council and the Cook County Board, was backed by 21 percent of black voters, but just 2 percent of Hispanics and 1 percent of whites.

Among blacks, 30 percent are undecided, 19 percent back Emanuel, 13 percent favor Meeks and 10 percent are for Braun. Burris, once a popular African-American politician, had just 3 percent support among blacks.

Chico — of Latino, Greek and Lithuanian heritage — had 15 percent support among whites, 12 percent among Hispanics and just 2 percent among blacks.

Chico and del Valle combined trail Emanuel in the Latino community. Among likely Hispanic voters, 36 percent are undecided, 27 percent favor Emanuel, 14 percent del Valle and 12 percent Chico.

Most voters are not disappointed by Daley's decision not to run again. Only 30 percent wanted to see him run for a record seventh term, while 59 percent said they would not like to see him run again. The rest weren't sure.

Last July, a Tribune poll found that 53 percent of voters didn't want to see Daley elected to another term, and only 31 percent wanted to see him re-elected. And only 37 percent approved of the job he was doing.

Daley has been hurt politically by corruption scandals under his watch, the perception that not enough is being done to combat crime, and consternation over the effects of his decision to lease out the city's parking meter system.

hdardick@tribune.com

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Jewish voters don't reflexively back Rahm Emanuel for Chicago mayor - Chicago Tribune

Some might assume that the idea of a Rahm Emanuel candidacy for mayor would be cause for celebration along Devon Avenue, the longtime rialto of Chicago's Jewish community.

After all, Emanuel attended an Orthodox synagogue before going from Chicago to the White House, and his family is highly respected in West Rogers Park, where his father, Benjamin, was a pediatrician. The numbers of those who say Dr. Emanuel took care of their kids is roughly similar to the legion that claimed to have witnessed Babe Ruth point to the Wrigley Field bleachers and hit that famed home run.

But Rahm Emanuel, who begins his Chicago "listening tour" this week, is about to discover that all politics aren't local.

In the Jewish neighborhoods on the Far North Side, Rahm Emanuel is more associated with what he did in Washington than what he might do in Chicago's City Hall.

"There are questions about his positions on Israel," said Chesky Montrose, 32, who was wearing a skull cap and pushing one child in a stroller while keeping an eye on two others bicycling down Devon. "It's not logical that international policy would influence a race for mayor. But there is some resentment here, no doubt."

There was rejoicing along Devon on Friday because it was Simchat Torah, a festive celebration of the divine laws Moses received on behalf of the ancient Israelites. But there also were questions about Emanuel timing his White House farewell announcement for that day.

"On yontif?" said Montrose, using the Yiddish for the holiday.

During the run-up to Simchat Torah, it's traditional for Jews to take their meals in a sukkah, an improvised hut like their ancestors dwelled in during their wandering years in the deserts of Sinai. A fast-food restaurant on Devon provides customers with a sukkah.

With rituals marking their forebears' exiles, it's hardly a wonder Jews fret over modern-day Israel. Obama got a huge percent of Jewish voters, many of whom assumed Emanuel would give voice to their concerns as chief of staff, noted Cheryl Jacobs Lewin, Chicago co-chair of Americans for a Safe Israel.

"That has not happened, judging by the White House's heavy-handedness toward Israel," Lewin said in an e-mail.

A spokeswoman for Emanuel said Sunday he is a strong backer of Israel.

"Rahm's support for Israel is well known, and he had many supporters in the Jewish community when he represented a half-million Chicagoans in Congress. But he takes nothing for granted and will work to earn the support of every voter in communities across the city," said Lori Goldberg, Emanuel's spokeswoman.

Another person leery of Emanuel on the Israel issue is Norm Levin, who said, "I used to be a devout Democrat."

Levin is president of the Great Vest Side Club, an alumni association of the West Side neighborhood that was once the epicenter of Chicago's Jewish community. (The pronunciation "vest" commemorates the immigrant accent of members' parents.)

"I like to vote for Jewish people," Levin said. "But if they're sort of negative on Israel, they lose me."

Yet that very quality could be a plus for Emanuel among lakefront liberals, many of them secular Jews uncomfortable with a right-leaning Israeli administration.

"I'm sort of hostile to Israel," said James Alter, a founding father of independent politics in Chicago.

He and his late wife, Joanne Alter, also Jewish and a Metropolitan Water Reclamation District trustee, made their Lakeview home a longtime clubhouse for anti-machine activists.

Even so, there are other issues on which liberals clash with Emanuel, said political consultant Don Rose, who is Jewish, a reigning guru of the independent movement.

"We progressives found him unresponsive as a congressman when we wanted him to speak out against the Iraq war," Rose said.

Then there could be a linguistic problem attached to an Emanuel candidacy. Jews think of a Jew in the public eye as representing all of them with his or her behavior, said Chayim Knobloch, a rabbi and proprietor of the Kol Tuv supermarket on Devon.

Emanuel is famous for peppering his conversations with swearing, while Jews have a longstanding caution: "Don't make a shandah for the goyim" — be aware of your behavior in gentile company.

"So I have a small request," Knobloch said. "Rahm should watch his language."

rgrossman@tribune.com

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It's Official: Emanuel for Chicago Mayor - ABC News

Rahm Emanuel officially announced his candidacy for mayor of Chicago in a YouTube video that was posted today on his new campaign website, ChicagoforRahm.com.

Emanuel's announcement has been expected since Friday, when he resigned from his position as White House chief of staff and then immediately left Washington for Chicago.

In today's video announcement, Emanuel praised current Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's leadership, but spoke of a need to address Chicago's challenges, from safety on the streets to improving schools and attracting jobs.

Emanuel said an early part of his campaign will involve a listening tour across Chicago's neighborhoods to find out what Chicago residents want from their next mayor.

"As I prepare to run for mayor, I'm going to spend the next few weeks visiting our neighborhoods," he said in the two-minute, 11-second video announcement.

"I'm calling this the 'Tell It Like It Is' tour, because I want to hear from you in blunt terms ... what you think about our city, and how the next mayor and you, can make it better," he said.

In the video announcement he highlighted his links to the city where he was born and raised by his parents, who emigrated from Israel.

Emanuel and his wife Amy also raised their three children in Chicago while he served three terms representing a North Side district in Congress.

His ChicagoforRahm.com website features a "Tell it Like It Is" blog that currently features a transcript of today's announcement and a post containing coverage of President Obama's remarks on Emanuel's departure from his cabinet.

Emanuel had to declare his intent to enter the race by Nov. 22, the filing deadline in Chicago. Candidates need to collect 12,500 signatures by that day to qualify for a Feb. 22, 2011 Democratic primary.

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Rahm Emanuel expected to announce resignation tomorrow; Pete Rouse expected to ... - Washington Post

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will announce his resignation Friday, multiple administration officials said, continuing a series of key staffing changes ahead of the midterm elections.
Pete Rouse, a senior adviser who was President Obama's chief of staff in the Senate, is expected to fill the role at least on an interim basis, although several officials said he could wind up in the job permanently.
Obama will make two "personnel announcements" in the East Room at 11:05 a.m. Friday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday. Obama is expected to announce the Emanuel and Rouse moves at the same time, to maintain as much continuity as possible.
Emanuel has been setting the stage for his departure for weeks, since the moment outgoing Chicago Mayor Richard Daley (D) said he would not run for reelection. The question of whether and when Emanuel would leave has been a sizable distraction, people who work with the White House said, as other senior officials try to assess what the vacancy will mean and what other moves will be set in motion.
Rouse, a longtime former Senate staffer, is a popular choice among the White House staff. Already intimately involved in most major internal decisions, he is seen as a problem-solver, often wrestling with the president's most difficult dilemmas.
He is so well known in the Senate - where for many years he was a senior aide to then-Majority Leader Thomas Daschle - that he was often referred to as the 101st senator. Yet he has a much lower public profile than Emanuel's.
kornbluta@washpost.com cillizzac@washpost.com
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