WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF Rahm Emanuel is preparing to quit his job in order to run for mayor of Chicago, according to reports this evening.

The Associated Press says two insiders familiar with his plans believe Emanuel is to step down tomorrow and will arrive in Chicago on Monday to begin meeting voters ahead of a run for the city’s mayoralty.

Neither said they could indicate for sure when Emanuel would formally announce his bid for Chicago’s top political office, but he is expected to launch a website outlining his manifesto in the coming weeks.

Emanuel would be seeking to succeed Irish-American Richard M Daley, who indicated last month he would not be seeking a seventh term as mayor of the country’s third-largest city after 21 years in its top job.

Emanuel’s political ambitions have been scarcely guarded; one of his fellow Obama advisors, David Axelrod, previously told CBS that the chief of staff would “make a great mayor because he’s a larger than life personality, a personality that loves the city. He’s not a fraid to make decisions and to tackle hard problems.”

He is also a former congressman, and would be a near shoo-in to win office – which has been held by Democrats since 1931 – if he was to win the Democratic nomination for the election.

The Chicago Mayoral election takes place on the last Tuesday of February in the year before presidential elections – putting the next election on February 22, 2011.