Daley mum on Emanuel's rumored run for mayor

Mayor Daley said Wednesday he doesn’t respond to gossip columns and, therefore, has nothing to say about a Washington gossip columnist’s claim that White House Chief-of-Staff Rahm Emanuel is mulling a run for mayor in 2011.

Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn caused a bit of a stir this week when she wrote that Emanuel was “said to have told people” that the job of White House chief-of-staff is an “18-month job” and that he’s considering running for mayor in 2011.

Mayor Daley has refused to comment on rumors that White House Chief-of-Staff Rahm Emanuel plans to run for mayor of Chicago in 2011.
(Sun-Times File/Getty)

On Wednesday, Daley was asked about the political ambitions of Emanuel, who gave up his seat in Congress — and a career track that could have led to the coveted job of U.S. House speaker — to run the Obama White House.

“I don’t talk to gossip columns,” the mayor said after a joint news conference with U.S. Treasurer Rosie Rios at Hitch Elementary School, 5626 N. McVicker.

“You’re not in the gossip column business. You have asked me a lot about gossip columns all the time and I don’t respond to ‘em.”

Daley’s approval rating has fallen to an all-time low of 35 percent after a year marred by the parking meter fiasco and Chicago’s stunning first-round knock-out in the Olympic sweepstakes. In December, he will surpass his father as Chicago’s longest-serving mayor.

Daley has not yet decided whether to seek re-election to a seventh term. But after the Olympic debacle, he chided reporters for writing his political “obituary” and insisted that he’s every bit as “passionate” about the job he has called the “best in America” as he was on the day he took office 20 years ago.

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Washington Post columnist says Rahm Emanuel considering run for Chicago mayor. White House says not so.