Ald. O'Connor now the favorite to get backing for Emanuel's seat
Ald. Tom Allen (38th) said Monday he would not be a candidate in the March 3 special primary election to succeed former U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel, opening the door for City Council colleague Pat O'Connor (40th) to nail down the Democratic Party's pivotal endorsement.
"My passion is more on the local level of government and helping people in the neighborhood," Allen said, hours after Gov. Blagojevich set dates for the primary and April 7 general election to fill the 5th Congressional District vacancy created when Emanuel resigned to become White House chief of staff.
(Brian Jackson/Sun-Times)
"It's not a money factor [tied to a lingering debt from his campaign for state's attorney]. It's merely that I can accomplish more in the job I'm doing right now."
Allen's decision to take a pass creates an opportunity for O'Connor, Mayor Daley's unofficial City Council floor leader, to line up the 70,001 weighted votes needed to secure the Democratic Party's all-important endorsement.
Ald. William Banks (36th) said Monday he will convene the slatemaking session in two or three weeks, giving a field that once included 22 candidates a last chance to narrow.
"Whoever has the weighted vote becomes the candidate of the party. If nobody does, it becomes an open primary," Banks said.
"Right now, it seems to be fairly fragmented. If it stays every man for himself, virtually anybody could get elected. . . . It could be somebody totally unrepresentative of the district. That would be unfortunate."
Emanuel's election was secured by Daley's endorsement and the political foot soldiers commanded by the now-convicted former First Deputy Water Commissioner Donald Tomczak.
O'Connor had hoped to emerge from the crowded field by winning Daley's support and by persuaded Emanuel to use his powers of persuasion to clear the field.
But Daley has continued to play cat-and-mouse about O'Connor's candidacy. And Emanuel has stayed on the sidelines since the Chicago Sun-Times lifted the veil on his efforts to persuade Blagojevich to appoint Valerie Jarrett to the U.S. Senate.