An appeals court decision knocking former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel’s name from the ballot for Chicago mayor suddenly makes former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun the favorite in next month’s balloting – at least temporarily, on paper. However, Braun, a Democrat, told CNN’s John King that the erratic nature of Chicago politics means anything could happen despite the judges’ 2-1 decision Monday that barred him on the grounds that he hadn’t lived in Chicago for a year.
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Emanuel’s removal from the race could be reversed, Moseley Braun told King Monday, adding, “Politics in Chicago is a roller coaster, and so I'm just going to continue with our campaign and our message of creating jobs for our city, for the people of our city, and getting our schools together and protecting senior citizens and having public safety. So we're still on message. We're still doing what we've been doing all along, which is campaigning for all of Chicago.”
Asked whether she agrees with the appellate panel’s decision, Moseley Braun said: “The law is the law. And I'm a great believer in the rule of law. And I support what the court did. Remember, we have requirements, residency requirements for police and fire and teachers, and so the court's interpretation is one that, frankly, doesn't surprise me.”
A Chicago Tribune/WGN poll last week showed Emanuel, a former Illinois congressman who left the Obama administration late last year to run for mayor, getting a decisive 44 percent of voters surveyed, with Moseley Braun receiving a distant 21 percent. Other main candidates in the race, former Chicago schools chief Gery Chico and City Clerk Miguel del Valle, received 16 percent and 7 percent, respectively.
Emanuel’s three opponents have called him an outsider.
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