Clinton Warned: Stay Out of Chicago Politics
The Washington Post reports:
CHICAGO -- Congressman Danny Davis has a message for former President Bill Clinton: Don't take sides in the Chicago mayor's race - or else.
Davis, a longtime friend of Clinton, warned the ex-president on Tuesday that he could jeopardize his "long and fruitful relationship" with the black community if he campaigns for former White House chief of staffRahm Emanuel instead of one of the two leading black candidates running - Davis or former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun.
The warning highlights the stakes in what is gearing up to be a contentious race for mayor in the nation's third-largest city. About a dozen people have made it on to the ballot to replace retiring Mayor Richard M. Daley, who is bowing out after more than 20 years in office, giving candidates their first real shot at Chicago's top job for the first time in two decades.
In a news release, Davis, a Democrat from Chicago's West Side, said Clinton's relationship with the black community may be "fractured and perhaps even broken" if he comes to town to stump for Emanuel, who moved back to Chicago this fall to run for mayor and is leading in the polls.
Davis later told The Associated Press that he intended the news release to be a personal appeal to Clinton, friend to friend.
"You just wouldn't want your friends to be campaigning against you," Davis said with a laugh. "I've enjoyed a great friendship and relationship and have a tremendous amount of affinity for both the Clintons ... and I'd like to keep it that way."
