Ben Kolak of the Scrappers Film Group contributed to this report.
It was Rahm's night, and he spent it surrounded by friends and family. Riding a hefty 56-44 margin (in a runoff where less than 40 percent of registered voters went to the polls), Mayor Emanuel sealed the deal on a victory he thought he'd won last February. So it was a new, "nicer" mayor who gave a gracious acceptance speech, but mostly he basked in the glow of "Rahm Love" -- and even threatened to give some back.
Stump Connolly, chief political correspondent of The Week Behind, will be covering the Chicago mayoral race with his new pocketcam and offering periodic video reports exclusively on Gapers Block as the campaign unfolds.
— Stump Connolly
On Saturday, April 4, the faithful gathered, among them Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis, Jesse Jackson from Operation PUSH, Dolores Huerta, iconic leader of the United Farm Workers in California, and Cornel West, the New York intellectual and self-described rabblerouser. At New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church on the West Side, they made one last push to get out the vote for Jesus "Chuy" Garcia -- and celebrate how far the progressive movement has come in Chicago.
Stump Connolly, chief political correspondent of The Week Behind, will be covering the Chicago mayoral race with his new pocketcam and offering periodic video reports exclusively on Gapers Block as the campaign unfolds.
— Stump Connolly
There have been seven debates so far in this mayoral race, with one more scheduled Tuesday at 7pm on WTTW-Channel 11. Nielsen ratings show the encounters are drawing a relatively small TV audience: 98,000 viewers on public television and about 322,000 on NBC's first head to head debate. But three of those four viewers live outside the city of Chicago, so if you measure only registered voters in Chicago (and factor in 2011's turnout of 42 percent), the direct impact of the debates is negligible -- unless you add in the other media coverage. We asked reporters who have both moderated and covered the debates about the long tail of mayoral debates. In other words, who's watching?
Stump Connolly, chief political correspondent of The Week Behind, will be covering the Chicago mayoral race with his new pocketcam and offering periodic video reports exclusively on Gapers Block as the campaign unfolds.
— Stump Connolly
A Mexican and a Jew go to a Southside Irish Parade. Sounds like the beginning of a bad bar joke, doesn't it? So what do they do when they get there? Run from one side of the road to the other, handing out high fives like crazed lunatics. If you want to run for office, you have to throw yourself out there and do all kinds of silly things. Only in Chicago... in a close mayoral election. Happy St. Patrick's Day.
Stump Connolly, chief political correspondent of The Week Behind, will be covering the Chicago mayoral race with his new pocketcam and offering periodic video reports exclusively on Gapers Block as the campaign unfolds.
— Stump Connolly
The key battlegrounds in the mayoral race are shaping up to be in Chicago's black communities. To find out what's on people's minds, we spent a day in Gordy's Barbershop, 1407 E. 75th St., listening to more than a few opinions on what the candidates should be addressing.
Stump Connolly, chief political correspondent of The Week Behind, will be covering the Chicago mayoral race with his new pocketcam and offering periodic video reports exclusively on Gapers Block as the campaign unfolds.
— Stump Connolly /
Last Saturday, we went "Running with Rahm" - a marathon attempt to hit seven campaign offices in a day (with a stopover to call on Willie Wilson). We caught up with him at the 27th and 45th ward offices and discovered the old Democratic machine is anything but dead.
Stump Connolly, chief political correspondent of The Week Behind, will be covering the Chicago mayoral race with his new pocketcam and offering periodic video reports exclusively on Gapers Block as the campaign unfolds.
— Stump Connolly
Ben Kolak contributed to this report.
Dueling campaign night headquarters. Rahm vs. Chuy. Only two blocks apart, across a chasm of differences.
Stump Connolly, chief political correspondent of The Week Behind, will be covering the Chicago mayoral race with his new pocketcam and offering periodic video reports exclusively on Gapers Block as the campaign unfolds.
— Stump Connolly
Chuy Garcia's Valentine's Day began and ended with a kiss, and included 10 campaign stops in between. The object of his affection: his wife of 38 years, Evelyn.
Stump Connolly, chief political correspondent of The Week Behind, will be covering the Chicago mayoral race with his new pocketcam and offering periodic video reports exclusively on Gapers Block as the campaign unfolds.
— Stump Connolly
Early voting has begun, and Election Day is only eight days away. To celebrate, we accompanied the mayoral candidates on one of the great rituals of Chicago politics — el stop campaigning — set to the tune "Get Out and Vote" by Milwaukee's own Johnny Standley.
Stump Connolly, chief political correspondent of The Week Behind, will be covering the Chicago mayoral race with his new pocketcam and offering periodic video reports exclusively on Gapers Block as the campaign unfolds.
— Stump Connolly
William 'Dock' Walls is the wild card in the mayor's race. A single-digit finisher in his first two attempts to win the mayor's office in 2007 and 2011, he forcefully inserted himself into the Chicago Tribune debate and speaks to the issue of "Two Chicagos" in the others. So we accompanied him last week to the South Side to see the neighborhood where he grew up and talk with some of its residents.
Stump Connolly, chief political correspondent of The Week Behind, will be covering the Chicago mayoral race with his new pocketcam and offering periodic video reports exclusively on Gapers Block as the campaign unfolds.
— Stump Connolly
Last Monday, Jan. 19, Willie Wilson held a Martin Luther King Day rally at the House of Hope on 114th Street in Pullman. Wilson had predicted that over 12,000 people would turn out; the crowd was more like 500. A procession of ministers took the stage to support Wilson's bid for mayor, and the candidate once again offered up his Sermon on The Stump about Moses warning his people not to return to the land of Egypt. But the highlight, as always, was the gospel choir from Wilson's syndicated TV show "Singsation!"
Stump Connolly, chief political correspondent of The Week Behind, will be covering the Chicago mayoral race with his new pocketcam and offering periodic video reports exclusively on Gapers Block as the campaign unfolds.
— Stump Connolly
His day begins with phone calls at 5am and often doesn't end until midnight. From el stops to "Fridays with Fioretti," we followed mayoral candidate Bob Fioretti last week to see what a typical day on the campaign trail is like for the 2nd Ward alderman.
Stump Connolly, chief political correspondent of The Week Behind, will be covering the Chicago mayoral race with his new pocketcam and offering periodic video reports exclusively on Gapers Block as the campaign unfolds.
— Stump Connolly
With deep roots in the Harold Washington campaign, Jesus "Chuy" Garcia is relying on a robust field organization to build a new progressive coalition. Volunteers are signing up at a rate of 25 to 50 a day, and the campaign had 250 people on the street going door to door last weekend. We went to the field office at 63rd and Woodlawn to watch the operation in action on Jan. 14.
Stump Connolly, chief political correspondent of The Week Behind, will be covering the Chicago mayoral race with his new pocketcam and offering periodic video reports exclusively on Gapers Block as the campaign unfolds.
— Stump Connolly
The Chicago mayor's race is playing out like no other on Facebook, Twitter and the websites of the major candidates. Mary Naset is the digital director for Rahm Emanuel's re-election campaign and presides over a social network that includes 83,000 Facebook fans and more than 103,000 Twitter followers. For comparison, his opponent Bob Fioretti has around 8,100 Facebook fans and Jesus "Chuy" Garcia has around 6,700. We sat down with her to find out what 's all the fuss about.
Stump Connolly, chief political correspondent of The Week Behind, will be covering the Chicago mayoral race with his new pocketcam and offering periodic video reports exclusively on Gapers Block as the campaign unfolds.
— Stump Connolly /
On Sunday, Jan. 4, Willie Wilson went to church - four times. Only a day before giving his mayoral campaign $1 million from his personal bank account, Wilson made the rounds of the black churches that are the backbone of his campaign, giving each a generous donation, as is his custom, and talking about his reasons for running. By his own reckoning, he has given some $18 million to Chicago churches over the last 20 years and, as host of the Gospel Music showcase "Singsation!" featured many of their choirs on his TV show.
Stump Connolly caught up with him at one of his favorites, the Rev. Robert Patterson's Spirit of Truth Missionary Baptist Church, 3443 W. Harrison.
Stump Connolly, chief political correspondent of The Week Behind, will be covering the Chicago mayoral race with his new pocketcam and offering periodic video reports exclusively on Gapers Block as the campaign unfolds.
— Stump Connolly
Clem Balanoff files 63,000 nominating signatures for Jesus "Chuy" Garcia on Nov. 24, 2014, the last day of filing for the 2015 Chicago mayoral elections. Ten candidates are now in the race.
Next week, we catch up to present day!
Stump Connolly, chief political correspondent of The Week Behind, will be covering the Chicago mayoral race with his new pocketcam and offering periodic video reports exclusively on Gapers Block as the campaign unfolds.
— Stump Connolly
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and various aldermanic candidates vie for the top position on the ballot on Nov. 17, 2014, the first day of filing petitions for the Chicago municipal elections next February.
Stump Connolly, chief political correspondent of The Week Behind, will be covering the Chicago mayoral race with his new pocketcam and offering periodic video reports exclusively on Gapers Block as the campaign unfolds.
— Stump Connolly
The kick-off rally for Jesus "Chuy" Garcia took place at the Alhambra Palace in the West Loop on Nov. 23, to the tune of "Everyday People."
Stump Connolly, chief political correspondent of The Week Behind, will be covering the Chicago mayoral race with his new pocketcam and offering periodic video reports exclusively on Gapers Block as the campaign unfolds.
— Stump Connolly
Back in September, 2nd Ward Ald. Bob Fioretti launched the first serious challenge to Mayor Emanuel in a South Side gymnasium -- with a boatload of consultants on board.
Stump Connolly, chief political correspondent of The Week Behind, will be covering the Chicago mayoral race with his new pocketcam and offering periodic video reports exclusively on Gapers Block as the campaign unfolds.
— Stump Connolly
Rahm Emanuel opens his re-election campaign with a rally at the Cinespace Studios in Lawndale Dec. 6, 2014. The event is not on the mayor's public schedule, admission is by ticket only, and lines from every speakers are posted on Twitter moments after they are spoken.
Stump Connolly, chief political correspondent of The Week Behind, will be covering the Chicago mayoral race with his new pocketcam and offering periodic video reports exclusively on Gapers Block as the campaign unfolds.
— Stump Connolly /
