Poll roll …
Is Gery Chico surging?
“If winning the Chicago mayoral race is about momentum, I’ve got it,” mayoral candidate Gery Chico tells Sneed, who claims a grassroots surge seems to be moving him up in recent polls.
Chico, former state Board of Education Chairman, claims the recent uptick in support seen on a Chicago Sun-Times poll conducted by We Ask America, which listed him as No. 3 in the mayoral race behind Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s brother, Bill, is proof of it.
“I believe the poll uptick is pulsated by my having more individual donors than any other mayoral candidate, specifically 1,300 contributions from individual donors, helping us just hit a $2.2 million contribution mark,” he said.
“Bill Daley’s money comes in huge chunks; Toni Preckwinkle has big bucks union support; 87% of my donations are less than $1,000 and 400 donations have been $100 or less,” he said.
“Two polls last week show us in third place and the leading Hispanic in the race,” he said. “And I believe multiple polls show us as the only candidate on the move.”
The second poll was released Wednesday and conducted by Public Policy Polling —commissioned for SEIU/Preckwinkle.
Chico also said Fox news just invited him to be one of five participating in their upcoming televised mayoral debate.
“I’m just a kid from the South Side who doesn’t have a legacy name in politics or a lifetime office holder,” he added. “In 2011, I got 25% of the vote in the mayoral race — and started out at 3%.”
Is a big commercial buy in the wings?
“You bet,” he said.
Ken’s den . . .
Billionaire Ken Griffin, who loved advising former Gov. Bruce Rauner on political matters, not only just purchased America’s highest priced home for $238 million — a penthouse in New York— but his recent London purchase of a $122 million property not far from Buckingham Palace once housed the private office of French resistance leader Charles de Gaulle during World War II.
And de Gaulle, the future French president, loved advising Brit Prime Minister Winston Churchill during the war.
Kyle Schwarber with Tom Higgenson from the Plain White T’s perform at Harry Caray’s during a recent fundraising event to benefit Woody’s Winter Warm-up. | Provided
The Schwarber warbler . . .
Swing ’em & sing ’em: Cub Kyle Schwarber was reunited with an infamous smashed car windshield on display at Harry Caray’s at the Water Tower recently. The smashed window was the result of a home run he hit during 2016 Spring training which popped out of the park and hit a car in a parking lot.
• And, yes, that was Schwarber singing “Hey There Delilah” with Tom Higgenson from the Plain White T’s on stage at a fundraising event to benefit Woody’s Winter Warm-up attended by actors Bonnie Hunt and John Cusack.
Sneedlings . . .
I spy: Bears stars Khalil Mack, Kyle Fuller and Eddie Jackson spotted recently at TAO. . . . Ditto for comedian Marlon Wayans. . . . Bulls player Ryan Arcidiacono dining with a large group at RPM Italian. . . Same for Bears offensive lineman Bradley Sowell and Washington Nationals first baseman Matt Adams. . . . Actor Taylor Kinney at Harry Caray’s Thursday night. . . . Saturday’s birthday: Ellen DeGeneres, 61; Wayne Gretzky, 58; Vince Carter, 42. . . . Sunday’s birthdays: Patton Oswalt, 50; Alan Cumming, 54; and John Witherspoon, 77.
