Gibbs: Emanuel will take time weighing mayoral run

CLEVELAND (AP) — White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday he has “no doubt” that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel will be weighing his future options now that the race for Chicago mayor is wide open.

“Obviously, something like that doesn’t come around a lot,” Mr. Gibbs told reporters traveling with the president to Ohio. “I presume that Rahm will take some time and make a decision about that.”

Still, Mr. Gibbs said that, for now, Mr. Emanuel is focused on being President Obama’s chief of staff and “the enormous number of tasks we have in front of us as an administration.”

Mr. Emanuel has made no secret of wanting to run for Chicago mayor one day. But he was surprised along with everyone else when the job came open when longtime Mayor Richard M. Daley announced his retirement on
Tuesday.

Mr. Gibbs said he hadn’t spoken with Mr. Emanuel about his plans and he wasn’t sure whether Mr. Emanuel had talked with the president.

Mr. Emanuel represented Chicago in Congress before going to work for Mr. Obama.

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