Political Wire

Emanuel Launches Bid for Re-Election

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Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) formally announced his re-election campaign for mayor at a West Side film studio, using the platform to compare the city today to a pre-Emanuel “old Chicago,” the Chicago Sun Times reports.

“In a setting that offered a contrast to the venue he chose to announce his election in 2010 — a North Side elementary school — Emanuel told a crowd Cinespace Film Studios has provided jobs to hundreds of Chicago families.”

Emanuel Cashes In Due to Quirky Campaign Rule

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Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) “has received $400,000 in political donations that he was able to keep only because the state’s campaign contribution limits were eliminated through the actions of an obscure candidate who threatened to run, but didn’t,” the Chicago Tribune reports.

“The contribution limits were lifted for everyone in the Chicago mayoral race last month after frequent local candidate William J. Kelly filed paperwork in October showing he gave his own campaign $100,000. Under state law, once a candidate in a local race contributes $100,000 to his or her own campaign within one year of an election, the state contribution caps no longer apply. But Kelly didn’t file the necessary petition signatures by Monday’s deadline to appear on the ballot. Nonetheless, the lifting of the campaign limits remains in place.”

Illinois Odd Couple

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Illinois Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner (R) “is an enigma to many or most veterans of the political scene in President Obama’s home state — but not to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel,” Politico reports.

“The two men have a genuine friendship that dates back a decade and a half, to Emanuel’s brief but lucrative stint at the investment firm Wasserstein Perella in the late 1990s. There, the future White House chief of staff helped cement a half-billion dollar deal for Rauner’s company GTCR.”

About Political Wire

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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