DIDN’T HE SAY HE ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A U.S. SENATOR?

11/12/10

There has been fervid talk on a myriad of media outlets over the last few days that Illinois Treasurer and failed banker and Senatorial candidate Alexi Giannoulias may run for the big job on the Fifth Floor of City Hall. This will, in all likelihood, not happen; young Alexi is probably just another of the names that surfaces now and then only to quickly fade like an ash ascending from a campfire. The latest of these was former Cook County State’s Attorney Dick Devine, who, unlike young Alexi, had the potential, and experience, to be a great mayor. Rumors that Devine was considering a run surfaced in Mike Sneed’s Sun-Times column on Wednesday, 11/10 and were quashed in the same column on Thursday, 11/11. So it will probably go with Giannoulias, except that young Alexi’s outsized ego will probably make him string out the rumors for a bit longer; the Treasurer loves to read his name in the paper.

But this being Chicago, we love to talk about such things, and I am guilty as the next guy. So why would rumors of Alexi’s considering a run surface? In the Machiavellian tradition of my home town, I can come up with two reasons:

First, the cabal of committeemen who are forming, or have formed, an “anybody but Rahm” front across the city’s neighborhoods have encouraged such whisperings, and maybe even a possible run, in order to split the brie and fern bar, dazzling self-styled urbanite, hyperventilating media vote that is Rahm Emanuel’s natural consistency. Such trendy sycophantic types nearly had accidents over young Alexi’s senatorial bid and would doubtlessly find themselves stressed to their therapists’ limits if faced with a choice between their two heart throbs, Rahm and Alexi.

Second, Alexi simply floated his name in a bid to be bought off by Rahm Emanuel. He just ran an expensive campaign, is looking for a job, and has no discernible skills.

One more thing to keep in mind when considering possible candidates for mayor is that candidates only have ten more days to file 12,500 petition signatures and probably twice that to be safe. While there are a few big names and/or committeemen with strong organizations who would have no problem getting such signatures in a couple days, the field looks pretty much set at this juncture. It is composed of, in no particular order:

Rahm Emanuel
James Meeks
Gery Chico
Danny Davis
Carol Moseley Braun
Miguel del Valle
That woman who nobody has ever heard of but who ran some pretty good commercials on election night.
Some other fringe candidates who are of no consequence politically