And then there were three...In about 36 hours, residents of the Fifth U.S. Congressional District will finally know who their new congressman (or congresswoman) will be. Tomorrow's vote to replace Rahm Emanuel, now ensconced in the White House as Obama's Chief-of-Staff, comes after months of official and unofficial campaigning and the field has been whittled down from 20+ to three candidates: Democratic candidate Mike Quigley, Republican Candidate Rosanna Pulido, and Green Party candidate Matt Reichel. Everyone under the sun expects Cook County Commissioner (and avid Red Wings hater) Quigley to take the seat and we admit that we expect the same. It'll be interesting to see if turn-out is as low for tomorrow's vote as it was for the primary vote (17 percent). And while Pulido and Reichel have high hopes of an upset, Quigley's fundraising advantage over them ($600,000 compared to Pulido's $16,000 and Reichel's $2,000) gives him the edge. That is, as long as his supporters turn out to vote. more ›

Earlier today, we brought you the first in our series of candidate profiles of those running for Congress in the Fifth U.S. Congressional District of Iliinois, the race to replace Rahm Emanuel. If you're interested in getting to know more info about the candidates, several will be appearing at a forum tonight. The forum will run from 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. at the Second Unitarian Church of Chicago (656 W. Barry). As of posting time, those candidates scheduled to appear include: State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D), State Rep. John A. Fritchey (D), Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley (D), Ald. Patrick O’Connor (D), Jan Donatelli (D), Charles J. Wheelan (D), Paul J. Bryar (D), Tom Geoghegan (D), Jon Stewart (R), Mark Arnold Fredrickson (Green), and Matt Reichel (Green). Thanks for the tip, Stephen! more ›

Not only is every single resident in the 5th Congressional District running for Rahm Emanuel's vacated seat, some candidates are getting in front of voters sooner, rather than later. Democrat Charles Wheelan was up on the air early with a commercial that ran locally several hours before the Super Bowl. more ›

Monday was the deadline for candidates to file paperwork to the Illinois State Board of Elections to run for Rahm Emanuel's seat in the 5th congressional district. There are 26 candidates now registered to compete in the March 6 primaries. Candidates who plan to run as an independent or with a non-established party in the April 7 general election must file by January 27. more ›

Yesterday, we mentioned a potential snag in the set election dates for the primary and special elections to elect the new U.S. congressman for the fifth congressional district. We talked with James P. Allen, Communications Director of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners. Here's how he explained it:

This litigation is standard procedure with special elections. The same court action was filed last year to obtain a virtually identical court order for the 14th Congressional District special primary and special election to fill the vacancy after the resignation of U.S. Rep. Dennis Hastert.The reason is that the overall calendar in the election code on various items (candidate petition circulation, petition filing, objections, grace period, early voting, mail-in absentees, canvassing the results) is for a primary and general election that span many months, not several weeks. Thus, a court order sets the ground rules for all of the candidates up front. Additionally, such a court order would have been necessary no matter how the writ of election were issued, because the law requires both the primary and special election to be completed inside a compressed schedule of 115 days.

Now that we've said farewell to Rahm and set the date for elections to replace him, it's time for speculation on who will take the reins in the 5th congressional district, the former seat of our beloved Governor. The field is crowded now with counts of as many as 18 people running, but Ald. Patrick O'Connor (40th) appears to be pulling ahead of the pack, since he is poised to receive the critical Democratic Party endorsement after Ald. Tom Allen (38th) dropped out, citing his desire to remain on the City Council: "My passion is more on the local level of government and helping people in the neighborhood...It's not a money factor [tied to a lingering debt from his campaign for state's attorney]. It's merely that I can accomplish more in the job I'm doing right now." more ›