CHICAGO — Mayor Rahm Emanuel cracked open his $10.5 million campaign war chest this week to hit the airwaves with a re-election ad touting himself as a guy who gets things done for regular folks.
The ad features Kimberly Wasserman — a Little Village activist who was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, which some people consider the environmental Nobel Prize.
In the ad, Wasserman tells the story of her fight to close coal-burning plants in Pilsen after her son started to suffer from asthma. The fight lasted 10 years, until Emanuel came to the rescue.
"I think Rahm comes at a lot of these issues being able to have a tough conversations," Wasserman said in the 30-second ad. "He said if the right thing to do is shut them down that is exactly what I will do. And that’s exactly what he did. That’s the kind of leadership our communities need."
Watch the ad here:
Emanuel is to face off with at least two formidable candidates, Ald. Bob Fioretti and Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, and a host of other lesser-known mayoral hopefuls.
By Wednesday afternoon, a Fioretti supporter wrote the first anti-Emanuel's post on the ad's YouTube page.
Brandon Clark directed a question to Wasserman.
"Are you sure your child's reaction wasn't in response to Rahm? Bob Fioretti for Mayor!" Clark wrote, adding a link to Fioretti's campaign website.
Let the mayoral race begin.
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