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Danny Davis May Run For County Board President

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Jul 6, 2009 7:15 am US/Central

Danny Davis May Run For County Board President

Congressman Discusses Possible Plan Over The Weekend

CHICAGO (CBS) ― U.S. Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) says he is considering leaving Washington and running for president of the Cook County Board.

Davis is putting together a committee to help him decide if he should jump into the race.

"One could say that Cook County government, after the illness and death of President John Stroger, has experienced a crisis in leadership," Davis said in a weekend news conference outside the old Cook County Hospital.

If Davis ends up running, he will likely face several candidates, including incumbent Todd Stroger, who was placed on the ballot and won in 2006 when his father, then-President John Stroger, bowed out of the race after winning the primary.

Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th) and Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown have both announced plans to run for the County Board presidency.

But one anticipated candidate, county Commissioner Forrest Claypool (D-12th) has decided not to run, and instead plans to leave the County Board for the private sector. Claypool ran unsuccessfully against the senior Stroger in the 2006 Democratic primary.

On the Republican side, former Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Paul Vallas had planned to switch parties and run for the seat, but he instead opted to stay on as chief of the school system in New Orleans. Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica (R-16th), President Todd Stroger's Republican opponent in the 2006, has not yet announced whether he will run for County Board President again.

As for Rep. Davis, this wouldn't be his first time on the County Board. He represented the West Side and Near West suburbs as commissioner of the board's 1st District from 1990 until 1996. Commissioner Earlean Collins now holds the seat.

Before that, Davis served as alderman of the West Side's 29th Ward from 1979 until 1990. He was one of a broad field of candidates for mayor in 1989, in the special election set up following the death of Mayor Harold Washington.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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