Outgoing Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is doing the Switzerland thing when it comes to endorsing one of the candidates who'd like to take his place next spring: acting stolidly neutral, at least so far. "I don't think you can anoint anyone," the mayor said last month after announcing his retirement.

So which of the candidates actively running for the seat and collecting the minimum 12,500 signatures necessary to make the ballot next February could be considered Daley's policy heir? Despite the deep connections between Daley and Rahm Emanuel, it's conceivable that person is none other than attorney Gery Chico, the candidate whom Daley recently said he feels closer to than any other. In fact, given the multiple and varied roles Chico has played for the Daley administration over the years -- as the mayor's chief of staff, the president of the Board of Education, the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners, and currenty as the chair of Chicago's community college system -- Chico would probably produce more policy continuity with Daley than any of the other mayoral contestants.

Probably is, for now, a necessary modifier for that statement. The candidates are still busy with nominating petitions, fundraising, and politicking rather than staking out policy positions on the hard choices the city faces. Those views should become clearer soon. In the meantime, Chico, like every other candidate, has a difficult road ahead, given the media frenzy that's accompanied Emanuel's return to Chicago.