Thanks to a strange little article by the Sun-Times' Fran Spielman yesterday, there seems to be an impression out there that Ald. Patrick O'Connor (38th Ward) is the front-runner for the 5th Congressional District race. Case in point, Chicagoist ran with this headline: "Race to Replace Rahm: O'Connor Pulling Ahead."

Pulling ahead?  Huh?  The guy has neither announced his candidacy nor raised any money (as far as we know). Spielman's suggestion that he would easily sweep up the support of the Cook County Democratic Party is also in question, as Crain's Greg Hinz points out today:

Signs were increasing on Tuesday that the race to succeed Rahm Emanuel in Congress will be a wide-open affair, with party bosses not unified beyond any one contender.

Hinz goes on to report that Mayor Daley has indicated he's staying out of the race.  That would be a big blow to O'Connor, his "unofficial floor leader" in the city council.  Meanwhile, there are a lot of other candidates (Mike Quigley, Sara Feigenholtz, John Fritchey, Eugene Schulter) who have been representing portions of the district for years and have significant political organizations in place -- a fact Spielman's article completely overlooked.  

Then there's the matter of that Tribune article last year highlighting how O'Connor helped one of his wife's longstanding clients secure city approval for a development deal.

The question isn't whether O'Connor is "pulling ahead."  It's whether he'll even get in the race without Daley there to clear the path for him.