Rahm Emanuel had gone so long without making an overt play for national attention that I hadn’t been in a decent is-he-or-isn’t-he-running debate in weeks.
The thing is, the mayor’s race—for which Emanuel is ostensibly raising money—is in 2015, and it doesn’t have any primaries. It’s the presidential hunt that occurs in 2016.
“I’m not interested,” he said. “I love what I’m doing. I think being mayor is the best job promotion I’ve ever gotten.”
That’s an issue he adopted soon after the school shootings in Connecticut, when it became apparent that the whole country—or at least a majority of voters—wanted some additional kind of gun control.
Ah, the good old days—I’m working myself into a lather just remembering those old fights over exactly how Daley was going to get his way.
From where I sit, it’s not a particularly helpful image for a guy to cultivate if he’s interested in getting elected president, since union members and their supporters constitute a large chunk of the voting bloc in Democratic primaries. Now, should Mayor Emanuel ever get around to becoming a Republican—as opposed to ruling like one—we’re talking potential front-runner!
