Rahm Emanuel’s campaign for mayor got underway today without a formal announcement of his bid to replace retiring Mayor Richard Daley. Instead, he is inviting Chicago residents to give him an earful in what’s shaping up to be a carefully orchestrated tour of neighborhoods.
Emanuel, who just left as White House chief of staff on Friday, started what he says is several weeks of community visits by hitting CTA bus stops near Roosevelt Road and State Street at 8 a.m. He spent about 45 minutes atop the “El” platform shaking hands with commuters and parents taking their children to school.
It was a scene of old-school street politics as Emanuel gladhanded, asking people where they worked, where they lived and wished them a happy Monday. […]
A throng of reporters and cameras, both newspaper and TV, recorded the events. Emanuel, though, wasn’t answering any questions from the press.
A reader’s take…
I caught the first appearance of Rahm on his “listening tour” this morning. He came to the Roosevelt Road L stop. Tons of reporters, cops and CTA personnel, very little interaction with potential voters, much less Rahm listening to the voters’ concerns. He was there for less than 30 minutes and then ran across Roosevelt Road, press and everyone else in tow, to go into the Jewel at Roosevelt and Wabash.
This is no “listening tour.” It’s a publicity stunt. The media allowed itself to be used once again by this guy.
Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has chosen Scott Fairchild, the chief of staff for Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.), to manage his campaign for mayor of Chicago, POLITICO has learned. […]
Fairchild was also a senior adviser to Illinois Rep. Bill Foster’s successful 2008 campaign to claim former House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s seat. After the election, he oversaw Foster’s transition in Congress.
*** UPDATE *** Many thanks to a commenter for pointing me to this story…
“I was born here and my wife Amy and I raised our three children here,” he says. “I’m glad to be home.”
But an Emanuel spokeswoman, Lori Goldberg, confirms that the video itself was actually filmed in Washington, D.C., in the offices of AKPD media, the firm founded by David Axelrod. […]
Emails Joe Trippi, a consultant to Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, “A DC office? I guess there is no place like home.”
As Emanuel apparently still owns his home and has a longstanding residence in Chicago, I think he’ll have no problem declaring and demonstrating that he had an intent to return.
This issue is of some importance here as professors on sabbatical or otherwise away have been known to rent out their homes while they are gone. This does not take away their right to vote.
“The guy does not meet the statutory requirements to run for mayor,” said attorney Burt Odelson. “He hasn’t been back there in 18 months. Residency cases are usually very hard to prove because the candidate gets an apartment or says he’s living in his mother’s basement. Here the facts are easy to prove. He doesn’t dispute he’s been in Washington for the past 18 months. This is not a hard case.”
* Rahmup…
* Chicago aldermen offended by Emanuel’s royal send-off: Asked whether he believes Obama should “stay out of it,” Burke said, “I think he ought to get into it and help elect Pat Quinn and Alexi Giannoulias.”
Random observations: 1) Many criticized the lack of DC-experienced hands when Obama moved his Chicago crew out East and, now, Rahm hires a guy w/no Chicago experience for the mayoral contest; and, 2) Rahm’s website sure is telling of the man’s/campaign’s ego. Normally, candidates are “for” the electoral division, as in “Quinnfor Illinois”. But Rahm’s site is “ChicagoforRahm”. One says the candidate is going to work for the state and the other says the city is going to work for the candidate.
Not a big fan of Rahm, but I certainly find it hard to believe he is some sort of carpetbagger. He may still be part of the beltway elite because of his long tenure there, but he is a Chicagoan in more than name.
I can’t be too hard on the media on this one. Rahm must be Big Heat, the Biggest Story Ever, given the nauseatingly maudlin send off he got in the White House from the President of the United States.
Smart presidents don’t lower themselves or the office by sinking down into a city primary, for crying out loud. Obama used his office and the White House to virtually endorse Emanuel.
What makes that even more bizarre is that Obama was the subject months ago of a brutal “Rahm Smart, Obama Stupid” campaign in the national press when it looked like the health care bill was dead. Emanuel practically left his business card on that negative attack.
I would ask the great listener if he is going to resurrect the Tomczak group to gather petition signatures and ring doorbells for him? Emanuel was happy to use campaign workers who were in the middle of the Sorich/hiring trial. And then he was involved in the Blago/Sentate seat. If his opponents don’t go negative on him immediately they are silly.
- lake county democrat - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 11:14 am:
“Hey Rahm, I supported you over Nancy Kasacz or whatever her name was, so I’m not a plant. My question: is it fair to judge your credibility by your insistence several years ago that mayor Daley had no knowledge of the corruption that had taken place in his office? Why or why not?”
what is the pull for the media to speak about him as they
do? listening to WGN radio on Sunday morning and there
was a weird sort of happy glee in the voice of the news
guy. do the press releases come with a virtual box of
chocolates, flowers and a happy pill?
I agree it’s a bit odd two of the front-runners (Rahm and Dart) are hiring strategists with no proven Chicago experience. Then again, if you want to hit the ground running before Nov. 2nd (and you should - give Rahm credit for that, at least he is out there, now, as of October 3rd), I imagine the best talent is kinda busy at the moment, right? The most experienced Chicago hands have probably not been sitting back these past months and waiting for a Daley retirement. I imagine after Nov. 2nd settles that some of these campaigns will be bulking up their in-house specialists.
While I am no particular fan of Emanuel, I readily agree that he is eligible to run for Mayor. Odelson is a longtime election law attorney that routenely gets beat back by other lawyers who do their homework. He was probably thrilled when governor Quinn deep-sixed a planned appointment of attorney Frank B. Avila to a post in the Quinn administration (apparently at the behest of Mayor Daley, whose support quinn was trying to woo; a lot of good that is doing Quinn now). Instead Avila, an Army Reservist in the JAG Corps, was called up for active duty, eliminating a formidable election law attorney that would have likely represented progressive candidates for alderman and other offices in 2011 (the very candidates Odelson would be trying to knock off the February ballot.
Until Rahm can answer one fundamental question, I will be withholding my support:
“You are a former Senior Policy Advisor to President Clinton, former investment banker (and as a result, current multi-millionaire), former Congressman, and now former Presidential Chief-of-Staff. The world stage is your canvas. Why do you want to be Mayor of Chicago? Really? Potholes, garbage collection, rotting side-walks stir your blood?
Methinks there is something else to this whole thing and I just can’t put my finger on it.
And does anyone truly believe Rahm didn’t get advance warning from Daley that he was going to hang it up? Puh-leeze.
Could we get better coverage from the media? I have no clearidea what he has been eating, or what label of clothes he wears! not to mention what his favorite color is…
Been pondering motivation myself. Rahm obviously likes power. How may jobs are there that one can control the debate as well as have the degree of power over the outcome as Chicago mayor? The jobs you list all have competing interests (read Republicans and media) against which one needs to constantly battle. Many of these roadblocks are not present in Chicago. So Rahm gets to exert an enormous amount of control with limited opposition in a city that is larger than all but the biggest states. Pretty attractive position for an ambitious politician.
All these negative Rahm vibes. Name another potential candidate that has the business and political savy to manage this city that Rahm’s experience brings. Chico is a Daley puppet that single handedly brought down a 150 year old law firm as managing partner. Wait until that hits media exposure.
“According to Politico, Rahm’s “glad to be home” video was filmed in Washington, DC at the AKPD offices.”
I have lots of issues with Rahm, but the video being shot in D.C. is not one of them. He was transitioning from being the Chief of Staff. Of course he was going to film in DC.
Now, if his subsequent spots are filmed there, it is fair game.
“And does anyone truly believe Rahm didn’t get advance warning from Daley that he was going to hang it up? Puh-leeze.”
How much advance warning do you think he got if he agreed to rent out his house for a year just days before Daley announced his retirement?
The annoying thing about Rahm and Dart hiring these outside hands is it turns the mayor’s race into a national thing even more than it is just by Rahm’s stature.
For Joe Trippi, I’m sure it’s probably some personal thing to work for Dart and try to take down Rahm because Rahm pushed out Trippi’s guy Howard Dean as DNC chairman and I’m sure there’s some resentment/dislike from the Edwards-Obama battles during the 2008 primary.
But I worry for the city just what sort of candidate we’ll wind up with and what sort of campaign we’ll have after we get so much of this hijacked by outside money/DC beltway punditry without any of Chicago’s real problems addressed.
“I have lots of issues with Rahm, but the video being shot in D.C. is not one of them. He was transitioning from being the Chief of Staff. Of course he was going to film in DC.”
Rahm’s “I am of Chicago” video being filmed in DC is a big issue. Not on substantive grounds, but because it opens him up to an easy line of mocking and attack.
If I were an opponent I would start creating fake ads with Rahm in various locations describing his Chicago ties.
Rahm in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Rahm in front of the pyramids on a camel.
Rahm rafting the Grand Canyon with a Bears hat on.
Rahm announcing his candidacy in front of Buckingham Palace with one of those Bear Hatted Red Uniformed soldiers walking by.
Rahm’s Grade: D -….I was under impressed with Rahm’s camera presence….He reminded me of when a “Pip Squeak Speaks”….I kept wondering when he was going to let out an “F…Bomb” and challenge one of the local wannabes to a tap dancing contest to settle the election.
- Phineas J. Whoopee - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 12:55 pm:
Let’s all play a game named “Where’s Rambo” or Where in the “City is Rahm Emmanual”.
Not only will it help educate folks on City geography but it will warn me where to stay away from.
WLS and all the Rahm haters are having fun with this. But are the Rahm critics suggesting that any of the other candidates are better? Who really would be a better Mayor? Good luck with that. The rest are clowns, tearing down Rahm is the only game in town it seems right now.
Trippi is advising Dart? Crap there goes Dart’s chances. Trippi does nothing but take white politicians and turn them into progressive heroes and wind up losing. That is his MO.
- Phineas J. Whoopee - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 3:03 pm:
People can critisize Rahm all they want but he is going into the hoods and taking the heat. It may make for some embarrassing press clips but it will add up to votes later on. just watch in see. If you want folks votes you have to go ask for them.
“And does anyone truly believe Rahm didn’t get advance warning from Daley that he was going to hang it up? Puh-leeze. ”
Based on media accounts, only the Mayor’s family and a VERY few close friends knew before. Others were called in an hour before, and his cabinet found out from their blackberrys while waiting for the Mayor.
If Rahm knew, do you think he would have extended the lease on his house for another year a month before the announcement? Seems unlikely. But more importantly, who cares.
- SangamoGOP - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 10:45 am:
Random observations: 1) Many criticized the lack of DC-experienced hands when Obama moved his Chicago crew out East and, now, Rahm hires a guy w/no Chicago experience for the mayoral contest; and, 2) Rahm’s website sure is telling of the man’s/campaign’s ego. Normally, candidates are “for” the electoral division, as in “Quinnfor Illinois”. But Rahm’s site is “ChicagoforRahm”. One says the candidate is going to work for the state and the other says the city is going to work for the candidate.
- Cincinnatus - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 10:47 am:
Not a big fan of Rahm, but I certainly find it hard to believe he is some sort of carpetbagger. He may still be part of the beltway elite because of his long tenure there, but he is a Chicagoan in more than name.
- Cincinnatus - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 10:48 am:
- SangamoGOP - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 10:45 am:
“Random observations…”
Shouldn’t those be Rahmdom observations?
- OneMan - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 10:59 am:
Having seen the residency challenge in full swing before, it is going to be hard to prove he is not a resident.
- OneMan - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 11:00 am:
I would bet at least one TV station is following him with their ‘chopper’
- wordslinger - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 11:00 am:
I can’t be too hard on the media on this one. Rahm must be Big Heat, the Biggest Story Ever, given the nauseatingly maudlin send off he got in the White House from the President of the United States.
Smart presidents don’t lower themselves or the office by sinking down into a city primary, for crying out loud. Obama used his office and the White House to virtually endorse Emanuel.
What makes that even more bizarre is that Obama was the subject months ago of a brutal “Rahm Smart, Obama Stupid” campaign in the national press when it looked like the health care bill was dead. Emanuel practically left his business card on that negative attack.
- Jim - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 11:06 am:
I would ask the great listener if he is going to resurrect the Tomczak group to gather petition signatures and ring doorbells for him? Emanuel was happy to use campaign workers who were in the middle of the Sorich/hiring trial. And then he was involved in the Blago/Sentate seat. If his opponents don’t go negative on him immediately they are silly.
- Cincinnatus - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 11:11 am:
What are the odds that Rahm decides not to run?
Today, I say about 60%.
- lake county democrat - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 11:14 am:
“Hey Rahm, I supported you over Nancy Kasacz or whatever her name was, so I’m not a plant. My question: is it fair to judge your credibility by your insistence several years ago that mayor Daley had no knowledge of the corruption that had taken place in his office? Why or why not?”
- Plutocrat03 - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 11:19 am:
How will Rahm make a successful coalition to run? What are his bridges to the communities outside his congressional district?
The numbers don’t add up to me.
- Amalia - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 11:21 am:
what is the pull for the media to speak about him as they
do? listening to WGN radio on Sunday morning and there
was a weird sort of happy glee in the voice of the news
guy. do the press releases come with a virtual box of
chocolates, flowers and a happy pill?
- Bubs - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 11:23 am:
We should be VERY hard on the media on this one. They view Emanuel as all but elected.
I watched a recent WBBM-TV 10 pm newscast and was stunned - I thought I was watching an Emanuel infomercial.
- ZC - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 11:26 am:
I agree it’s a bit odd two of the front-runners (Rahm and Dart) are hiring strategists with no proven Chicago experience. Then again, if you want to hit the ground running before Nov. 2nd (and you should - give Rahm credit for that, at least he is out there, now, as of October 3rd), I imagine the best talent is kinda busy at the moment, right? The most experienced Chicago hands have probably not been sitting back these past months and waiting for a Daley retirement. I imagine after Nov. 2nd settles that some of these campaigns will be bulking up their in-house specialists.
- fedup dem - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 11:34 am:
While I am no particular fan of Emanuel, I readily agree that he is eligible to run for Mayor. Odelson is a longtime election law attorney that routenely gets beat back by other lawyers who do their homework. He was probably thrilled when governor Quinn deep-sixed a planned appointment of attorney Frank B. Avila to a post in the Quinn administration (apparently at the behest of Mayor Daley, whose support quinn was trying to woo; a lot of good that is doing Quinn now). Instead Avila, an Army Reservist in the JAG Corps, was called up for active duty, eliminating a formidable election law attorney that would have likely represented progressive candidates for alderman and other offices in 2011 (the very candidates Odelson would be trying to knock off the February ballot.
- Him Say - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 11:42 am:
Until Rahm can answer one fundamental question, I will be withholding my support:
“You are a former Senior Policy Advisor to President Clinton, former investment banker (and as a result, current multi-millionaire), former Congressman, and now former Presidential Chief-of-Staff. The world stage is your canvas. Why do you want to be Mayor of Chicago? Really? Potholes, garbage collection, rotting side-walks stir your blood?
Methinks there is something else to this whole thing and I just can’t put my finger on it.
And does anyone truly believe Rahm didn’t get advance warning from Daley that he was going to hang it up? Puh-leeze.
- Ghost - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 11:46 am:
Could we get better coverage from the media? I have no clearidea what he has been eating, or what label of clothes he wears! not to mention what his favorite color is…
- Cincinnatus - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 11:51 am:
Him Say,
Been pondering motivation myself. Rahm obviously likes power. How may jobs are there that one can control the debate as well as have the degree of power over the outcome as Chicago mayor? The jobs you list all have competing interests (read Republicans and media) against which one needs to constantly battle. Many of these roadblocks are not present in Chicago. So Rahm gets to exert an enormous amount of control with limited opposition in a city that is larger than all but the biggest states. Pretty attractive position for an ambitious politician.
- wordslinger - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 12:22 pm:
The next mayor will have next-to-no-power unless they can cobble together a solid 25 votes on the City Council. See Washington, Harold.
- Edison Parker - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 12:23 pm:
According to Politico, Rahm’s “glad to be home” video was filmed in Washington, DC at the AKPD offices.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1010/Glad_to_be_home__but_where_is_that.html?showall
- Padraig - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 12:28 pm:
All these negative Rahm vibes. Name another potential candidate that has the business and political savy to manage this city that Rahm’s experience brings. Chico is a Daley puppet that single handedly brought down a 150 year old law firm as managing partner. Wait until that hits media exposure.
- Montrose - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 12:35 pm:
“According to Politico, Rahm’s “glad to be home” video was filmed in Washington, DC at the AKPD offices.”
I have lots of issues with Rahm, but the video being shot in D.C. is not one of them. He was transitioning from being the Chief of Staff. Of course he was going to film in DC.
Now, if his subsequent spots are filmed there, it is fair game.
- hisgirlfriday - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 12:36 pm:
“And does anyone truly believe Rahm didn’t get advance warning from Daley that he was going to hang it up? Puh-leeze.”
How much advance warning do you think he got if he agreed to rent out his house for a year just days before Daley announced his retirement?
The annoying thing about Rahm and Dart hiring these outside hands is it turns the mayor’s race into a national thing even more than it is just by Rahm’s stature.
For Joe Trippi, I’m sure it’s probably some personal thing to work for Dart and try to take down Rahm because Rahm pushed out Trippi’s guy Howard Dean as DNC chairman and I’m sure there’s some resentment/dislike from the Edwards-Obama battles during the 2008 primary.
But I worry for the city just what sort of candidate we’ll wind up with and what sort of campaign we’ll have after we get so much of this hijacked by outside money/DC beltway punditry without any of Chicago’s real problems addressed.
- hisgirlfriday - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 12:38 pm:
“I have lots of issues with Rahm, but the video being shot in D.C. is not one of them. He was transitioning from being the Chief of Staff. Of course he was going to film in DC.”
Same here Montrose.
- IrishPirate - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 12:41 pm:
At least one national media source seems to realize that an election for Mayor in Chicago is more than a Rahmgone conclusion.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-10-02/rahm-emanuels-toughest-chicago-mayoral-foe-tom-dart/
- IrishPirate - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 12:47 pm:
Rahm’s “I am of Chicago” video being filmed in DC is a big issue. Not on substantive grounds, but because it opens him up to an easy line of mocking and attack.
If I were an opponent I would start creating fake ads with Rahm in various locations describing his Chicago ties.
Rahm in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Rahm in front of the pyramids on a camel.
Rahm rafting the Grand Canyon with a Bears hat on.
Rahm announcing his candidacy in front of Buckingham Palace with one of those Bear Hatted Red Uniformed soldiers walking by.
- Louis Howe - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 12:47 pm:
Rahm’s Grade: D -….I was under impressed with Rahm’s camera presence….He reminded me of when a “Pip Squeak Speaks”….I kept wondering when he was going to let out an “F…Bomb” and challenge one of the local wannabes to a tap dancing contest to settle the election.
- Phineas J. Whoopee - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 12:55 pm:
Let’s all play a game named “Where’s Rambo” or Where in the “City is Rahm Emmanual”.
Not only will it help educate folks on City geography but it will warn me where to stay away from.
- jackson - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 1:06 pm:
Nice to see Joe Trippi is still cashing in on that Howard Dean train wreck from 2004.
- IrishPirate - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 1:11 pm:
Apparently Quigley is floating his name.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/us/03cncpulse.html?_r=1&ref=chicago-news-cooperative
- Amalia - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 1:18 pm:
so, we can do “Flat Rahm” pix!
and, while I do agree with the Trippi ribbing of the
Rahm folks, time would be better spent on actual
work, Joe….
- IrishPirate - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 1:27 pm:
Neil Steinberg pens a “rahmapalooza” column for the Washington Post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/01/AR2010100103143.html?sid=ST2010093004161
- siriusly - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 2:21 pm:
WLS and all the Rahm haters are having fun with this. But are the Rahm critics suggesting that any of the other candidates are better? Who really would be a better Mayor? Good luck with that. The rest are clowns, tearing down Rahm is the only game in town it seems right now.
- Aaron - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 2:29 pm:
Trippi is advising Dart? Crap there goes Dart’s chances. Trippi does nothing but take white politicians and turn them into progressive heroes and wind up losing. That is his MO.
- Phineas J. Whoopee - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 3:03 pm:
People can critisize Rahm all they want but he is going into the hoods and taking the heat. It may make for some embarrassing press clips but it will add up to votes later on. just watch in see. If you want folks votes you have to go ask for them.
- Wizard of Ozzie - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 3:36 pm:
“And does anyone truly believe Rahm didn’t get advance warning from Daley that he was going to hang it up? Puh-leeze. ”
Based on media accounts, only the Mayor’s family and a VERY few close friends knew before. Others were called in an hour before, and his cabinet found out from their blackberrys while waiting for the Mayor.
If Rahm knew, do you think he would have extended the lease on his house for another year a month before the announcement? Seems unlikely. But more importantly, who cares.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 3:45 pm:
Wizard is right. Him Say needs to take a deep breath.
- Him Say - Monday, Oct 4, 10 @ 3:51 pm:
I concede the point…..