Primary to select candidates for Emanuel's seat

Voters go to the polls Tuesday in a special primary election that will whittle the list of candidates vying for the congressional seat that Rahm Emanuel vacated to serve as White House chief of staff.

A dozen Democrats, six Republicans and five Green Party candidates seek their party's nomination after a shortened campaign that didn't appear to excite much passion among 5th Congressional District voters.

"We don't anticipate a big turnout," said Billy Weinberg, a spokesman for one of the leading Democratic candidates, Mike Quigley. "But the ones who do turn out will be hugely motivated. I think they will be hungry for change."

The primary winners will go on to stand in a special general election set for April 7. The winner of the general election will fill the remainder of the two-year term Emanuel won in November.

The primary pits well-known Chicago Democrats against each other -- from state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz and her colleague state Rep. John Fritchey to Cook County Commissioner Quigley and longtime Chicago Alderman Patrick O'Connor.

"I'm feeling really good. I think our chances of wining are great," Feigenholtz said on the eve of the primary.

But it is Quigley who won the endorsements of the largest area dailies, the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times, and his spokesman said that could be decisive.

"Those endorsements are very important -- especially when the election's skewed toward people who are more active in politics and who are looking to newspapers for validation of their choice," Weinberg said.

A crowded field and an abbreviated election schedule mean many voters initially knew little, if anything, about the candidates -- though Feigenholtz and Weinberg said awareness rose sharply over the last several days.

The 5th Congressional District -- which stretches from Chicago's wealthy North Side lakefront to ethnic enclaves on the northwest side and neighboring Cook County suburbs -- has been a Democratic stronghold for years.

Whoever wins the Democratic nomination should be the prohibitive favorite in April, Feigenholtz said.

"I think the 5th District is a solidly Democratic, working-class district -- and I think Republicans would be hard-pressed to win this seat," she said.

Since 2002, Emanuel represented the largely white district of Poles, Germans and Irish that has a sizable Hispanic population and a median income of about $48,500, according to the 2008 Almanac of American Politics.

It is the seat once held by ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich and former House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski.