Instead of answering detailed questions at a campaign announcement press conference, Mayor Daley had reporters lining up yesterday for ten minute, one-on-one interviews. Here are some highlights:

* Sun-Times: City casino ‘not on our priority list’

Mayor Daley bobbed and weaved to avoid questions posed by the city hiring scandal Tuesday, even as he made himself available for a parade of 10-minute interviews.

Throughout the day reporters lined up at the mayor’s campaign headquarters for one-on-ones with Daley. But when it came time for answers about the scandal that culminated in the conviction of his former patronage chief and three other high-ranking city officials, Daley was less than forthcoming. […]

On his on-again, off-again quest for a Chicago casino, the mayor said it’s “up to the governor.”

“It’s not on our priority list,” he said.

* The Crain’s interview in full can be downloaded here [mp3 file]

Mayor Richard M. Daley, in a campaign-kickoff interview Tuesday, left the door open for residential development on the doomed A. Finkl & Sons Co. factory site on the city’s North Side that has been the focus of efforts to preserve industrial jobs in Chicago. […]

[Question] If you’re really for the property tax cap extension, as (Illinois House Speaker) Michael Madigan says he is too, why hasn’t it passed the House?

[Answer] We’re getting closer every vote. We have another vote next month, coming up in January. And we’re going to follow through.

[Question] Are you really going to push for it?

[Answer] Oh, yeah.

* AP: Daley cites “few bad apples'’ for City Hall problems

A relaxed and chatty Daley said he was different from private-sector CEOs who step down when bad things go on under their watch.

“They failed to act,” he said.

Daley said he has taken steps to clean up problems at City Hall. He has said the city would continue retooling its hiring and contracting systems to prevent abuse and had imposed new fundraising rules.

“So far, sure, I think I’ve done enough,” Daley said. He said the city has to meet higher standards than a public company because it operates on taxpayer money.

When Daley was asked if he thought he could be charged as part of the federal investigation, he said: “I wouldn’t even know that.”

* NBC5: Mayor Talks About Corruption, Iraq, Passion For Job [video is here]

Daley was upbeat and frank during the interview, during which Ahern fired off many different topics, ranging from his own son’s embarking on a career in the Army to Daley’s position on corruption within his administration to his unbridled passion for the job.
“I’m the most accessible public official you’ve ever met, and you know that in your own career,” Daley told Ahern with a smile.

* The Tribune story concentrated mostly on the mechanics of the interview process.

Bill Cameron, a reporter for WLS radio, said while he appreciated Daley giving the gift of time, it was clearly an effort by the mayor to deliver a campaign message “that he was fighting corruption and never benefited from any of it.”

“He wouldn’t even concede that he has benefited politically by the work of those who have been prosecuted,” Cameron said. “He not only said to me that he’s not worried about what may be coming to him from the feds, because he did nothing wrong, but that he didn’t know what was going on and he didn’t benefit from any of it. But of course he did.”

But even the most seasoned journalists, recognizing Daley’s availability as more a political tactic than an act of holiday kindness, weren’t about to look a gift mayor in the mouth.

“Everybody’s always happy to get a one-on-one with the mayor,” Cameron said. “But he stayed right on message.”

* CBS2 video

* ABC7’s complete interview