Behind The Scenes Of The Rahm Campaign
CHICAGO (CBS 2) - He's on the phone, reading the paper and being briefed by staff members about the next stop.
Rahm Emanuel asks, "Jordan's beauty supply, 8th ward, then 7th ward, when do I eat?
Well, not for awhile. Keeping up with Rahm Emanuel isn't easy.
CBS 2's Jay Levine watched as he made 13 stops Wednesday morning, crisscrossing through the city.
When a Rahm fan offered good luck and a special prayer, Emanuel replied, "Do me a favor, drop me out, and put a prayer for kids of Chicago."
The warming reception softens the bad news that the influential Chicago Defender, whose endorsement he coveted, has announced its support for Carol Mosely Braun.
His spirits are lifted when he visits the charter school of one of his youngest volunteers. In 11-year-old Dejuan Brown's classroom, the message was simple.
"When you're going to school, you think about studies, not safety," Emanuel said.
The students remind him that his own children are a thousand miles away and so does their magic marker messages on the glass wall of his headquarters cubicle.
On his desk, in front of the picture of his wife, his son's homework, that he's just checked.
"He did well. He didn't do as well as he's supposed to do. So we're going to have a conversation about it," Emanuel revealed.
Each morning, he crisscrosses the sprawling state street complex with a paid staff of 40 and teams dealing with everything from new media to politics to policy.
"We already have two things we're going to unveil this week, one of them dealing with food deserts," Emanuel said.
On the south side this morning, he brightened up when he spotted Walgreens test-marketing fresh fruit and vegetables. And as we walked to the next stop he talked about using the mayor's job to correct a major problem.
"You can not have 600,000 people not have access to fresh food and vegetables."
