This weekend, Rahm Emanuel, Rep. Danny Davis and Carol Moseley Braun are all set to formally announce their bids for mayor. But, as most Chicagoans know, the campaign season has already begun.
On Thursday, CBS 2 Chicago's Jay Levine spoke to Braun strategist Mike Noonan--who admitted an interesting campaign move on the air:
"It is standard practice in politics for those who are known to have short tempers, to be pushed because, you know, when a guy like that's buttons are pushed we expect to see a reaction and that kind of reaction is what we believe the people Chicago are not going to like," Noonan said.
Noonan, a former political aide to House Speaker Michael Madigan, also helped McCook Mayor Jeff Tobolski defeat Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica in the Nov. 2 elections. Peraica ended up being arrested toward the end of the campaign, so perhaps Noonan knows a thing or two about inciting aggressive behavior.
But, as Levine said following the interview with Noonan, Chicago has yet to see Emanuel's temper, calling him a "model of reason and restraint."
"So much for a plan to address the challenges the city faces," Emanuel's communications director Ben LaBolt wrote in an email to HuffPost Chicago, in response to the Braun campaign's plan.
Even CBS 2 anchor Walter Jacobson seemed perplexed by Noonan's statement:
"That does not sound like a very smart strategy to me, letting us all know that what Braun plans to do is try to provoke Emanuel into a fit of temper, why tell us all?"
Emanuel has had limited contact with reporters since he returned to Chicago, and barely batted an eye when someone threw an egg at him in the Little Village neighborhood this week.
WATCH the CBS 2 segment here: