{"id":185920,"date":"2014-07-14T20:04:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-15T01:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2014\/07\/14\/bummer-of-a-birthmark-rahm-2\/"},"modified":"2014-07-14T20:04:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-15T01:04:00","slug":"bummer-of-a-birthmark-rahm-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2014\/07\/14\/bummer-of-a-birthmark-rahm-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Bummer of a Birthmark, Rahm\u2026\u2026\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

In his bid for reelection, Rahm Emanuel is behind his virtually unknown opponents by 22%<\/a>:<\/p>\n

For the past couple of weeks, Karen Lewis has been saying she is \u201cseriously\u201d considering running for mayor.<\/span>

<\/span> It turns out voters are taking the fiery Chicago Teachers Union president\u2019s potential candidacy seriously as well.<\/span>

<\/span> And Mayor Rahm Emanuel probably should, too.<\/span>

<\/span> At least that\u2019s what a surprising new Early & Often Poll suggests.<\/span>

<\/span> If the mayoral election were held today, the lightning rod union leader who was the architect behind a 2012 teachers\u2019 strike would beat Emanuel by 9 percentage points in a head-to-head contest, the survey found.<\/span>

<\/span> Lewis was leading Emanuel 45 percent to 36 percent with 18 percent of the likely voters undecided.<\/span>

<\/span> And Emanuel could face an even steeper hill if he faces Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, long considered his most formidable challenger.<\/span>

<\/span> A head-to-head contest found Preckwinkle in a romp vs. Emanuel by a stunning 24 points.<\/span>

<\/span> Preckwinkle dominated with 55 percent of those surveyed. Emanuel notched just under 31 percent.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I don’t think that Toni Preckwinkle got anything going by way of a campaign right now, but Karen Lewis is, having set up an exploratory committee<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Neither of them have a whole bunch of name recognition beyond the fact that they fought with Rahm, and they are still kicking Rahm’s ass.<\/p>\n

The Emanuel campaign is claiming that it is no big deal, but I kind of figure that his <\/p>\n

Details below.
<\/a><\/p>\n

Sun-Times mayoral poll<\/a><\/div>\n