Rahm Will Announce Saturday: Source

If it walks like a duck and it talks like a duck. Then you can safely say, it's a duck. Right!?

One could argue that's the case with Rahm Emanuel and his bid to become Chicago's next mayor.  He set up a campaign staff long ago. He's launched a web site. He's raising funds and holding press conferences. The only thing missing: the formal announcement that he's actually in.
 
Not anymore.

A campaign staffer on Wednesday evening confirmed the inevitable, saying the announcement, after weeks of build-up, will take place on Saturday.

The staffer tells NBC Chicago the event will be held at Coonley Elementary School in Emanuel's former North Side Congressional District.  It's a school at which Emanuel made an appearance last month to bring attention to his help in obtaining funding for the school while he was still a congressman.
 
Emanuel's announcement is generating buzz on the campaign trail, particularly amid the camp of Gery Chico, who has positioned himself as the education guru of the race, with his experience as former Chicago School Board President and the one-time President of City Colleges of Chicago.

So, is it a stretch to wonder whether Emanuel, in formally announcing his candidacy at a public school, is taking a veiled shot across the bough of one of his leading contenders?

Emanuel's campaign refused to comment, but the Chico campaign offered some insight and told NBC Chicago that Chico will soon be unveiling his own plan to transform education in Chicago.
 
"Gery is very eager to debate education with Rahm Emanuel and the other candidates. Gery attended Chicago Public Schools, sent his children to Chicago Public Schools and led the turnaround of Chicago Public Schools from the worst system in the country to a national model for reform," said Brooke Anderson, the Chief Spokesperson for the Chico campaign.

Previously Emanuel was said to be likely to declare by Thanksgiving. The filing deadline for mayoral race petitions is Nov. 22nd.

The Emanuel news comes on a day when he was nearly egged in Little Village. Hours before, Emanuel's tenant declared that he, too, would run for mayor.

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