Despite the fact that he was a native of the city, served three terms as a congressman and was chief of staff to President Barack Obama and a key aide to President Bill Clinton, he was not well-known to much of the population.
Since then he has worked hard to introduce himself. He has assembled a well-organized campaign operation and canvassed the city delivering a series of high-profile campaign speeches as well as making 357 informal stops to meet voters -- 229 at various community locations, such as schools, grocery stories, churches and 110 at "L" train stations.
He also has hit the airwaves with a series of ads, buoyed by a large war chest, that both tout his record, remind voters of his connections with Obama and Clinton and attack his opponents.
Now he enters Tuesday's voting as the clear front-runner and possibly within reach of avoiding a runoff. A candidate needs to win 50 percent of the vote to avoid an April runoff.
After visiting churches on Sunday, the candidates Monday worked throughout the day and into the night trying to spur turnout and can be expected to do the same Tuesday. Emanuel greeted commuters, visited a seniors center and stopped by a packed south side Home of Chicken and Waffles restaurant where he surprisingly was greeted by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and some other supporters of one of his opponents, former Senator Carol Moseley Braun.
The major opponents in the race are hoping to force a runoff. Gery Chico, former head of the Chicago school board, greeted commuters both at stations and on trains as he rode throughout the city. City clerk Miguel del Valle rallied volunteers who were trying to get out the vote. Braun held a news conference near Emanuel's restaurant stop trying to portray herself as the true representative of working people.
Emanuel has been hit hard with the opponents charging he is a Washington insider and is avoiding answering questions about some of his controversial moves.
"He is a pathological evader of the truth," Chico said Monday. "When you put a question to somebody, and they will not answer the question but they are so well-rehearsed as to evade your question."
For his part, Emanuel seemed to try to stay above the fray since he has the advantage of being the front-runner.
"They can say whatever they want," he said Monday. "It doesn't matter what anybody says or what they say about me because if we don't turn this city around it is going to be harder for their kids. That has been my focus from day one."
Emanuel, well-known for his past demonstrations of anger and his colorful personality, has been low-key throughout the campaign.
Trying to take advantage of the popularity in this city of the presidents he once worked for, Clinton came to town standing next to him in a high-profile event last month and Emanuel's campaign has been running television and radio ads using some of Obama's laudatory words during an event when Emanuel confirmed his resignation.
He also used questions regarding statements from his opponents to tout some of the achievements he helped usher in while working in the White House: putting more police officers on the street, gun measures, the Wall Street reform bill and health care reform.
Jackson criticized some of the support Emanuel received.
"He was at an advantage to raise millions of dollars out of Hollywood and Wall Street and LaSalle Street. Then the huge send off by the White House. He has used the president's generous remarks and Bill Clinton endorsement as clearing the path that is coming. President Clinton and President Barack (Obama) have stature in this area. And he is riding on their shoulders in a real sense," Jackson told CNN.
Some of the key issues in the election have included how to deal with an expected $654 million deficit, possible reforms to the city's pension system and crime. Emanuel's proposal for a series of tax cuts but also to hike levies for luxury services drew the ire from the others in the race.
For much of the campaign Emanuel fought off charges he was not a legal resident of Chicago and therefore could not run. It stemmed from the renting of his house when he became White House Chief of Staff. He maintained he never gave up his residency and defended himself at an election board hearing in December, which lasted almost 12 hours, even listing what possessions he had kept in the home: his wife's wedding dress, the family china, photo albums, a bed, a piano and a stereo and was asked specfically where they were stored: in a storage area in the basement. After a series of conflicting rulings the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously Emanuel's name should be on the ballot.
"We are a pretty avid Scrabble playing family. I have banned the word resident in Scrabble at our household. I never want to see it," Emanuel told reporters laughing after the state high court issued its ruling.
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