Chicago mayoral race: Rahm has early lead in poll

A new Chicago Tribune/WGN TV poll shows former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel with a sizable lead over his many challengers. But he only has the support of 32 percent of voters. An almost equal number, 30 percent, are undecided. My guess is that most Chicagoans won't begin to seriously think about this race until after New Year's Day.

The last time I counted there were 15 candidates who will end up on the February 22 ballot. As for the major candidates, U.S Rep. Danny Davis (7th) and former Board of President Gery Chico garner support from 9 percent of voters, state Sen. James Meeks is backed by 7 percent, former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun gets 6 percent, and City Clerk Miguel del Valle is at 3 percent support.

As for the former clown prince of the U.S. Senate, Roland Burris, he hasn't officially declared his candidacy, but he attracts support from just 2 percent of voters.

Assuming no candidate collects 50 percent of the vote, a runoff election between the top two finishers will take place in April.

Emanuel spent much of Tuesday answering questions about the controversy about his residency status at a hearing yesterday.

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