In the days leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, Chicago's mayoral candidates have started to trot out some of their endorsers: people and organizations that can write checks, make introductions, and put people on the street and in the phone banks as the campaign intensifies.

Last Friday, Rahm Emanuel snagged support from a coalition of construction unions -- despite his rocky history with organized labor -- to go along with the long list of corporate executives helping him. Carol Moseley Braun's campaign chair Billie Page thanked a series of backers this past weekend at Braun's mayoral announcement, including Democratic Party fundraiser and Ariel Investments CEO John Rogers Jr., East Lake Management's executive and Daley ally Elzie Higginbottom, and Larry Huggins from Riteway Construction. Page also thanked the controversial Dr. Leon Finney. Organizations associated with Finney have been repeatedly dragged into housing court for operating slum properties on the South Side.

Gery Chico picked up an endorsement from Paul Vallas, the former chief of the Chicago Public Schools system, this morning. Here's a clip from the event:

To better keep track of who's behind which mayoral candidates, check out our updated mayoral tracker. We're now keeping tabs on who's endorsing who.