Website Looks For New Mayor

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Dec 17, 2009 2:30PM

We're girding ourselves for the February 2010 primaries and the run-offs and 2010 general election shenanigans to follow, but someone already has their eye on the 2011 Mayoral elections. A new, small website has cropped up called "Next Chicago Mayor." The site allows the user to submit 10 names or votes on a potential candidate to challenge Mayor Daley in February 2011 or to vote on names already submitted. Sort of like a Digg (or WindyCitizen!) for candidates. A message on the site reads:

Chicagoans are ready for new leadership, and in February 2011, we will elect our next mayor. The search is now on for strong, progressive candidates. Next Chicago Mayor lets Chicagoans help find and draft our next mayor by suggesting and voting on their favorite candidates.

Vote for your favorite candidates or nominate someone new below, and together we can build support for a competitive mayoral race.

The anonymously run site's set-up is very basic and there's no real info aside from the list and voting for potential candidates; it appears to be more of a conversation starter as opposed to a conversation piece, a la the anti-2016 Olympics site Chicagoans For Rio. What's the future of the site, who's behind it, and how do they plan to use the results of their polling? Well, we're not sure. We're awaiting an answer via email.

As of this morning, the leading vote-getter is former city Inspector General (and current U.S. Senate candidate) David Hoffman, followed closely by Rahmbo and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.