* A new poll commissioned by the Sun-Times shows lots of interest in the coming mayoral primary, but probably not quite as much as political reporters…

And according to this poll, there is no clear frontrunner…

From the story…

But with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points, the poll essentially put the nine contenders it included all in a statistical dead heat. […]

The survey relied on 600 personal interviews with randomly selected registered Chicago voters. It was conducted Wednesday evening, just a day and a half after Mayor Daley made his stunning announcement that he would not seek a seventh term.

* And there’s not nearly as much fear of the future out there as one might suspect, at least, not yet…

* The pollster the paper used was once brutally slammed by its late political columnist Steve Neal, so the Sun-Times’ choice was odd, to say the least.

From the story…

Perhaps not surprisingly, the poll did find evidence of votes breaking along racial lines. Dart’s strongest support was among white voters, Meeks’ among black voters, and clearly Gutierrez benefitted the most from his base of Hispanic voters.

Emanuel, who is white, curiously also found his largest base of support among Hispanic voters — conceivably because “Emanuel” can also be read as a Hispanic name.

Voters who said they were most eager to vote were most likely to give their support to Dart or Gutierrez.

The survey did not include every possible candidate but focused on those most often mentioned as likely contenders.

*** UPDATE *** Your exclusive advance copy of this week’s WBEZ program “The Best Game in Town” can now be downloaded. Click here. From the producer…

No offense to the home opener for the Bears, but the best game in town this week is at City Hall. In this episode, it’s Daley, Daley, Daley.

UIC Professor and former Alderman Dick Simpson talks about how the Daley machine occupied the 4th floor of City Hall for 42 years.

WBEZ’s Sam Hudzik parses and analyzes the political rhetoric coming from alderman, jockeying for position.

And we host a roundtable discussion from Schaller’s Pump in Bridgeport, featuring Cheryl Corley (NPR), Salim Muwakkil (In These Times) and Carol Felsenthal (Chicago magazine).

Subscribe to the iTunes podcast by clicking here.

* Roundup…

* Daley more concerned with being respected than loved

* Daley wants respect, not love, in retirement

* Huntley: What qualities make a good mayor?

* Sheriff Tom Dart would have ‘head start’ if chose to run for mayor

* Dart considers run for mayor

* Candidates for Mayor Begin to Throw Hats in Ring

* Zorn: February mayoral election will see no clowning around

* Schmich: Imagine when Daley told Oprah

* ‘Daley’ isn’t going anywhere

* Will next mayor keep focus on classroom?

* Rep. Luis Gutierrez Considering Mayoral Run

* Latinos predict big impact on mayoral race

* Pantagraph: Chicago mayoral race has statewide impact

* News-Gazette: Daley steps down, others will step up

* Barton Lorimor: SIU prof Greer recalls covering Mayor Daley (VIDEO)