Where Rahm Emanuel's 'head is at' on runoff strategy
Mayor Rahm Emanuel is known for brute-force politics, but never before has he had to fight for his own political life.
Now, facing a tough battle with challenger Jesus “Chuy” Garcia to stay in office, Emanuel is trying to smooth out his own rough edges while waging a four-week war with four goals:
• Build a stronger field operation to boost voter turnout, particularly among white-ethnic and African-American voters.
• Use surrogates to try to carve out for himself a healthy chunk of Garcia’s Hispanic base.
• Carefully exploit historic tensions between Hispanics and blacks.
• Portray Garcia as indecisive, inexperienced and incapable of leading a city that’s wavering on the financial brink.
“This is not four weeks of destruction or scorched-earth,” said an Emanuel strategist, who agreed to speak only on the condition of not being named. “We’re looking to make sure the differences between the candidates are stark. It’s a comparison that’s very favorable to us.
“Chuy Garcia has served in three different legislative bodies. The only remarkable thing about him is how unremarkable his record is.”
Paul Begala and James Carville, who served with Emanuel in the Clinton White House, both have given political advice to their close friend — advice they declined to talk about.
But Begala said the extraordinary mea culpa commercial that features Emanuel looking straight into the camera and saying, “I can rub people the wrong way or talk when I should listen,” is a “very strong reflection of where his head is at.
“It’s a very different race than the first time,” Begala said. “It’s a choice now — not a referendum [on Emanuel]. That’s an enormous strategic shift.”
Carville said he sees the runoff and what Emanuel needs to do this way:
“It’s a close race. It’s got to be a contrast: ‘This is my record. This is what I offer. This is what I propose to do. This is what my opponent proposes to do.’ The choice has to be framed. Chicagoans have to make a decision. That happens more often than not when an incumbent is running and people say, ‘I’ll just vote against the incumbent.’ ”
The Chicago Sun-Times interviewed five political strategists with ties to Emanuel to get a sense of the mayor’s game plan for the runoff. All agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity, not wanting to alienate the notoriously controlling Emanuel.
All said they think Emanuel is in real danger of becoming a one-term mayor. But all also said that, if the following campaign strategy is executed well, he can win re-election:
BLACK VOTE: Four years ago, Emanuel got 58 percent of the African-American vote and captured every black ward on the strength of President Barack Obama’s tacit endorsement of his former White House chief of staff.
But in the Feb. 24 election, the mayor got just 42 percent of a much smaller pie. Millionaire businessman Willie Wilson got 25 percent of the black vote, thanks to residual anger from the Where Rahm Emanuel's 'head is at' on runoff strategy | Chicago:
