This is Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s big weekend to remind the folks back home in Washington that he’s still a national player.
On Saturday night, the mayor will be in Des Moines to give the keynote speech at the Iowa Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner. Emanuel will officially be there as a proxy for President Obama, who needs to win the swing state of Iowa in 2012.
Here’s a short list of past keynote speakers:
2000: Joe Biden
2002: John Kerry, John Edwards, Howard Dean
2003: Kerry, Edwards, Dean, Dennis Kucinich, Carol Moseley Braun, Dick Gephardt
2004: Al Franken
2005: Tom Daschle
2008: Al Gore
Except for Al Franken, everyone on that list has run for president at one time or another. And Franken is only a first-term senator, so give him time.
Then, on Monday, the mayor will be profiled on NBC’s "Rock Center," where he’ll deny to a nationwide audience that he wants to be the first Jewish president, or anything other than mayor of Chicago. Ever.
According to NBC:
The first in-depth profile of former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in his new role as Mayor of Chicago. The famously-foul-mouthed political operative is making big changes in the "city of big shoulders" and making big news as he takes on Chicago’s municipal unions and the city’s problems. But the reputed political tough guy is also showing surprisingly sensitive side.
Does this mean Rahm will cry on camera when he recounts the time a banker promised him a $10,000 donation, then broke his heart by never writing the check? Tune in to find out.
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