Tom Dart, on paper, looked like an almost ideal candidate for Chicago mayor: A likable Cook County sheriff who had attracted positive press and boasted a solid, South Side pedigree.
So it was easy to overlook a few factors. He lost the only tough race he'd ever run, for Illinois treasurer eight years ago. He's a father with several young kids. And he's never raised the kind of cash he'd need to run for such a high office.
When it came time for a final gut check, Dart looked inside and decided running for mayor wasn't for him.
"I'm disappointing people, but at the end of the day I have to look myself in the mirror," said Dart, clad in jeans and a Mount Carmel High School basketball fleece at a hastily called news conference outside the County Jail he oversees.
Dart's decision clears the field of one of the top candidates vying for the job to succeed Mayor Richard Daley, who said last month that he wouldn't seek another term in February. In recent weeks, the field has thinned as numerous aldermen, congressmen and county officials have bowed out.
Since Daley's announcement, Dart had been telling supporters he planned to run and was gearing up his campaign, even gathering more than 25,000 signatures — twice the required amount — to get his name on the ballot.
Dart was expected to be a top-tier candidate, a counterweight to Rahm Emanuel, the former North Side congressman and White House chief of staff who has been bruising his way through Chicago as he ramps up a run. Dart, who hails from the 19th Ward, had stronger ties to progressive unions and working-class voters who weren't necessarily predisposed to support Emanuel.
Dart has long yearned to be mayor. But as he sought support around the city, the contrast with Emanuel was clear to ward committeemen and political powerbrokers.
"(Dart) wasn't making the hard sell," one committeeman said. "There was an opinion out that that he wasn't up to the battle, especially with Rahm coming in like a bulldozer."
Even when Dart was aggressive in working the phones, he trod into territory Emanuel already covered, sometimes twice. Many Democrats said they noticed Dart's fledgling campaign was somewhat disorganized and having difficulty gaining traction.
Although Dart had hired Joe Trippi, a political strategist with a national profile, the two had never worked together. In the past, both Dart and Emanuel employed AKPD Message and Media, the political consulting firm once run by President Barack Obama's senior adviser, David Axelrod. But Emanuel hired them before Dart had a chance.
Dart's departure was viewed in many political circles as a boon for Emanuel.
"There's little doubt this helps Emanuel's campaign," said another Democratic ward committeeman who spoke on the condition of anonymity, "but it helps all the candidates in the race to some degree."
One of the city's most knowledgeable political pros, Ald. Richard Mell, 33rd, said Dart's decision gives Emanuel a distinct advantage. "I think Rahm would be the beneficiary of that," he said.
Emanuel acknowledged Dart's decision changes the race's "dynamics" but dismissed the idea he pushed him out.
"He took a gut check of that decision," Emanuel said. "Tom Dart does not get scared" out of a race.
Dart said no back-channel overtures were made by other candidates to encourage him not to run.
Others potential candidates include City Clerk Miguel del Valle, former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, former Chicago Board of Education President Gery Chico, Ald. Robert Fioretti, 2nd, state Sen. James T. Meeks, U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, and Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Larry Rogers Jr.
Dart said fundraising, political support and the fear of losing had nothing to do with his decision. Instead, it was all about his family. He and his wife, Patricia, have five children ranging in age from 1 to 9. Dart said running a mayoral campaign and then running the city if he won was too much.
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