Rahm Emanuel for president?
He's said absolutely not. No, no, no. Not going to happen.
Yet rumors still persist that the less-than-affable mayor of Chicago is eyeing a bid for the White House in 2016.
Thursday, the Drudge Report splashed a banner headline across its site touting the intrigue and linking to a Daily Beast article that said two well-placed Democratic sources say that Emanuel will throw his hat in the ring if Hillary Clinton decides not to run for the highest office in the land in 2016.
This thinly sourced article contains nothing Ward Room hasn't heard before. But the fact that the rumor persists is interesting -- so lets bite.
If Clinton does run, she'll likely clear the field, the piece argues. But if she is not among the candidates, then Emanuel would have considerible advantages over likely candidates Andrew Cuomo, Joe Biden and Kristen Gillibrand. Emanuel is a legendary fund raiser who has experience at just about every level of government, including the White House.
He'd also have plenty of negatives; such as presiding over Chicago's surging murder rate, his notoriously bombastic vernacular and a propensity to get testy with the media.
Then again, it's 2013 -- too early to tell who's in and who's out -- and too early to stop any talk about Emanuel gunning for the job.
