Speaking on Fox News Sunday, White House Senior Advisor David Axelrod announced that he would be leaving the Obama Administration sometime in the first half of next year to begin planning Barack Obama's 2012 reelection campaign. more ›

News reports are breaking this afternoon that Mayor Daley will not seek reelection next year. Hang on to your seats, folks. Shit is about to get real. more ›

With the city's budget deficit growing and crime a hot topic, we were wondering if we'd get any answers from Mayor Daley yesterday in his annual State of the City speech. We got one, alright, even if it was indirect and we need look no further than this morning's headlines to find it: more ›

With the mayoral race still a ways off and MayDay playing coy about whether he'll run for re-election, one local candidate has thrown his hat into the ring: Jay Stone. Born and raised on the mean streets of the city's far North side, Stone, who practices as a clinical hypnotherapist, is no stranger to Chicago politics. Jay Stone has run for office in Chicago before; in 2003 he challenged 32nd Ward Alderman Ted Matlak (who would later lose to Scott Waguespack). According to WBEZ, while he fell short in that bid, he was awarded " a $75,000 settlement from the city, after an independent monitor found that city workers helped defeat him." He's also the son of Bernie Stone, Alderman of Chicago's 50th Ward, in West Rogers Park. Claims his website: "Stone is often asked why he is so politically different from his father, Vice Mayor and Alderman Bernard L. Stone (50th). Jay Stone answers that his political beliefs were shaped by the 1960s civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements. Stone reports that he chose his political heroes and philosophy before his father was first elected to office in 1973." more ›

With it all but officially announced that Mayor Daley will seek a seventh term as Chicago mayor next year, Crain's takes an in-depth look at The Daley Years by the numbers today. It's a fascinating glimpse into what has gone right for the city (large decreases in violent crime, murder, and infant mortality since 1989) as well as what has gone wrong (the city's skyrocketing debt). There's also a large focus on the flight of African-Americans from the city, down fiver percent, while the Hispanic population has grown by more than eight percent. Be sure to click through all the graphs and survey results for additional information. more ›

We mentioned it briefly in last night's Extra, Extra, but we'll take a bit more time to look at what happened as Mayor Daley parted ways with City Hall Chief-of-Staff Paul Volpe. Volpe was named to the post just a little over a year ago, in December 2008, to replace Lori Healy who headed over to Chicago 2016. Now, Volpe, who is described as the architect behind the Parking Meter lease, is heading to the CTA to take over as budget director. Speaking on Volpe's shift yesterday, Daley denied it was a demotion over the fall-out from the Parking Meter lease which, as we all know, has been anything but smooth. In fact, Daley, calling Volpe, "an incredible public servant," put most of the blame on himself: “The meter transaction was a good financial transaction. ... It was the implementation after the transaction that got us into difficulty, I’ll be very frank, with the public. All of us bear [the blame]. I’ll take it myself. First and foremost me — not anybody else." more ›

In spite of temptation to run for a bigger office, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is staying put and running for reelection. He even posted a new status update on his Facebook page that reads, "Tom Dart loves having a job that I truly enjoy and which allows me to see my family each night. Hoping voters will elect me to another term as Cook County Sheriff in 2010. More to come later today, but thanks for all of your words of encouragement as I've made this decision!" Does he have a Twitter account, too? more ›

The idea of Mayor Daley seeking reelection in 2011 and the effect the 2016 Olympic race will have on it has been a topic of conversation around the Chicagoist office keg water cooler for a few months now. If Chicago wins the Games, would he retire and focus solely on that? Or would he be so drained by losing the Games that he'd choose to step back? Of course, this is a Daley we're talking about here so the Mayoral Monarchy would be threatened. But it's been a topic of conversation that's also picked up a little buzz city-wide and now WBEZ takes a look at Daley's campaign cash to see if there are any clues. Their conclusion? There aren't any, really, especially given his usual election routine - "Keep in mind, the big Daley money rolls in closer to the election." - but it's still an interesting peek into the Mayors coffers and worth a look. more ›

When he's not smack-talking Sen. Durbin, U.S. Sen. Roland Burris is apparently planning on sticking around at his current gig. In an interview with ABC 7's Charles Thomas, Burris said - albeit in a round-a-bout way - that he plans for running to keep his seat in 2010. more ›

Governor Quinn sat down with the St. Louis-Dispatch Editorial Board for an interview recently and he's raised $250,000 so far towards his 2010 reelection fund.

"Yeah," Quinn said, when asked whether he will run in November 2010 to keep the seat he assumed 12 weeks ago. "I think I've done a good job. I plan to do that (run for election). I see no reason not to."