Mayor Rahm? 'I would like to run' 
 
 WASHINGTON -- White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who in January tried to quash stories about a future Chicago mayoral bid, on Monday put his interest in City Hall on the record: "One day I would like to run for mayor of the city of Chicago." 
 
 Emanuel made his comment on the ''Charlie Rose'' show, taped in Manhattan. 
 
 After damping talk about a mayoral run in January, Rose resurrected the issue when he asked Emanuel what other government jobs he would be interested in if he left the White House. 
 
 "I hope Mayor Daley seeks re-election. I will work and support him if he seeks re-election," said Emanuel, 50. "But if Mayor Daley doesn't, one day I would like to run for mayor of the City of Chicago. That's always been an aspiration of mine even when I was in the House of Representatives." 
 
 Mayor Daley -- who will be 68 on Saturday, in his 20th year overseeing City Hall -- has not yet made an announcement about running for another term. The mayoral election is next February, and Daley is expected to seek re-election. 
 
 Emanuel is trying to set the stage as his logical successor. Though he would have tremendous fund-raising ability, Emanuel would also have some competition. 
 
 "That makes him one of many who aspire to the same goal. It is a laudable aspiration," Daley spokeswoman Jackie Heard said Monday. 
 
 Emanuel has pledged to serve as President Obama's chief of staff to the end of the year, and has signaled that could be extended if Obama asked him. Emanuel moved his family -- wife Amy and three children -- to Washington last year and enrolled his kids in local schools. 
 
 Emanuel gave up a safe House seat -- and a path to one day possibly being House speaker -- when Obama tapped him for chief of staff. 
 
 Gossip about Emanuel's future was first triggered Jan. 5 when Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn wrote that "Emanuel is said to have told people that the chief-of-staff role is an 18-month job and that he is considering a run for mayor of Chicago." ||||| View more news videos at: http://www.nbcchicago.com/video. 
 
 Charlie Rose: Is there any other job in government you'd like to have? 
 
 Rahm Emanuel: In government? 
 
 Charlie Rose: In government. 
 
 Rahm Emanuel: Yeah. 
 
 Charlie Rose: What? 
 
 Rahm Emanuel: Well, I mean, it's no secret -- 
 
 Charlie Rose: That you want to be speaker of the house. 
 
 Rahm Emanuel: Well, that's over. No, I would one day -- first of all, let me say it this way, I hope Mayor Daley seeks reelection. I will work and support him if he seeks reelection. But if Mayor Daley doesn't, one day I would like to run for mayor of the City of Chicago. That's always been an aspiration of mine even when I was in the House of Representatives. 
 
 Charlie Rose: Mayor of Chicago. 
 
 Rahm Emanuel: Yeah, fact I said the one thing if you ask me what I miss, I miss the contact with constituents. You know, I miss being in the -- when you were running the office, that touch with people. I used to do as you know I developed this thing called Congress on Your Corner where I used to stand in the grocery stores with a table of constituent service, and just greet people. And you learned a lot. And one of the best pieces of legislation I introduced was the Elderly Justice Act, came from a lady who talked to me at a grocery store about what happened to her father in a nursing home, and the way I found out that the law on the books was no real federal bill that dealt with seniors. And that's a -- you know, not all stories are like that. I helped a small business get a loan that expanded a tubing company. I miss that. I mean, I love what I'm doing. I find great passion in it because I work for a great president with a breadth of issues that has -- if you're in public policy at a period of time in history that's important, one day I'll go back to elected office and say I've enjoyed it, I enjoyed that process. 
 
 Charlie Rose: So rather than being a member of the Cabinet, if you left the chief of staff job you'd more likely want to go --
– Rahm Emanuel sounds like he wants out of the Obama administration—and Washington altogether. In an interview with Charlie Rose last night, Emanuel confirmed the rumor that he's considering running for mayor of Chicago in 2011. “I hope Mayor Daley seeks reelection. I will work and support him” if he does,” he said. “But if Mayor Daley doesn't, one day I would like to run for mayor … that's always been an aspiration of mine.” “I want to run for office again,” he said, saying he'd missed the contact he'd had with constituents in the House. But Chicago isn't exactly rolling out the welcome mat. “That makes him one of many who aspire to the same goal,” a Richard Daley spokesman tells the Chicago Sun-Times. But hizzoner's brother, William Daley, was more blunt last month, saying Emanuel would have to “get in line.” You can read a transcript of Emanuel's remarks at the Huffington Post.