'Now the games begin': Mayoral candidates begin to file nominating petitions

Mayoral candidate Paul Vallas's stack of nominating signatures was under an old upturned garbage bin for safe keeping.

Perhaps to emphasize the considerable weight of his stack, mayoral candidate Willie Wilson said that his bad back prevented him from lifting all of his signatures.

"I want the press to take a look at this right here," Wilson said, pointing to a tidy pile of paperwork.

Mayoral candidate Toni Preckwinkle posed for pictures by giant letters spelling her name.

Aldermanic candidates for races for all 50 wards, as well as treasurer, city clerk and mayor began filing nominating signatures Monday morning in the basement of the Cook County Building at 69 W. Washington.

"Now the games begin," Vallas said.

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