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Monday, January 17, 2011

Mayoral Forum Yields Few Sparks / Chicago News Cooperative

Mayoral Forum Yields Few Sparks / Chicago News Cooperative

Mayoral Forum Yields Few Sparks

While most Chicago Public School students were off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, more than 250 high school students attended the first televised forum featuring the four major mayoral candidates. The meeting at WTTW yielded few sparks between Miguel del Valle, Carol Moseley Braun, Gery Chico and Rahm Emanuel, and hopefully resulted in some extra credit points for the students who showed up.

Four mayoral candidates, Rahm Emanuel, Miguel Del Valle, Carol Moseley Braun and Gery Chico take part in a debate for the first time.
Jose More/Chicago News Cooperative

A congenial tone prevailed at the event, which airs Tuesday at 7 p.m. during WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight” program, with the candidates frequently stating how much they agreed with each other — a marked contrast from a series of editorial board meetings last week at which Emanuel was singled out for criticism.

The candidates were asked a range of questions from students, including their plans to add more police officers to the streets and what they’d do to reduce air pollution to help prevent asthma.

Most questions were addressed to one or two candidates, rather than all four, which allowed some candidates to