By Bill Cameron, WLS-AM News

(CHICAGO)  In the race for mayor, former President Barack Obama’s “First Friend” Valarie Jarrett says she won’t run, but will endorse someone with a proven track record. That makes it more likely Toni Preckwinkle – the Cook County Board president and party chair will run.

Back in 2014 when a Sun Times poll showed her viable against Rahm she rated the chances she’d run like this, “Slim and none.”

But now that Rahm’s out of the picture and she doesn’t even have an opponent for re-election as county board president, things are different.

She’d be the first African-American woman to be mayor. She’s not doing interviews right now, but her thinking is probably similar to what she said when party bosses made her the first woman to chair  the county Democratic party, “To be a first, it’s kinda fun.”

She’d have to live down repealing the county sales tax hike, then reinstating it, then enacting the pop tax only to have the county board repeal it, but she’d be a good bet to make the runoff for mayor next year.

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