Twenty-six file for Emanuel seat

More than two-dozen candidates will run for the seat
vacated by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in the 5th district of
Illinois. Filing closed late Monday.

Fifteen Democrats, six Republicans and five Green Party
candidates will compete in a March 3 primary, with the winners facing off in an
April 7 general election.

{mosads}The Democrat who wins the primary will be heavily favored
in the district, which stretches from the shores of Lake Michigan to the
suburbs around O’Hare Airport. Barack Obama won nearly three in four votes in
the district.

Democrats with an early head start include state Reps.
Sara Feigenholtz and John Fritchey, Chicago Alderman Patrick O’Connor and Cook
County Commissioner Mike Quigley. Some expect attorney Tom Geoghegan to compete
seriously for the seat.

Justin Oberman, a former top official at the
Transportation Security Administration and a member of Obama’s advisory
committee on Homeland Security, and Pete Dagher, who ran against Emanuel in
2002 and aided Obama’s presidential campaign, are also in the race. So is Frank
Annunzio, the namesake and distant relative of the Chicago congressman who
retired in 1992.

A poll conducted for Quigley shows Quigley sporting an
early lead, with 19 percent of the vote. Feigenholtz and Fritchey hovered
around the double-digit mark.

The poll, conducted Jan. 8 through Jan. 13 with a margin
of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent, did not include either O’Connor or
Geoghegan.

The director of the Illinois Minuteman Project, Rosanna
Pulido, and two candidates who had run for the seat before are seeking the
Republican nomination.

Though filing had been open for a week, several
candidates waited until the last minute to submit their papers with the
Illinois State Board of Elections. Quigley filed his papers with two minutes to
go until the 5 p.m. deadline, while O’Connor’s papers came in at 4:59 p.m.

Neither Emanuel nor Obama has made an endorsement in the
contest.