Rahm Emanuel to stay on as Obama chief of staff

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Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, is attempting to put out a couple of fires today: One, any suggestion that he won’t make it through the year with the Obama administration and could run for mayor of Chicago; and two, any notion that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is in trouble at the White House.

Will he commit to stay at the White House through 2010, NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie asked Emanuel during the debut of MSNBC’s ‘The Daily Rundown’ today. ‘A lot of chiefs of staff make this a two-year gig,’’ she noted.

‘Yes,’’ Emanuel said.

‘Yes, you’re staying for 2010? So, you’re not going to run for mayor of Chicago?’’

‘No,’’ Emanuel said.

‘Listen,’’ he said, ‘first of all, as I said, over the weekend, [Chicago Mayor] Rich Daly is a very, very dear friend of mine... Two is, I think he is a great mayor of a great city. Three, I would hope he seeks re-election, because I want him to continue to be a great mayor. And four, the reason I left Congress to join the president is because I think this is a historic time with great challenges and I want to do -- I was pleased to get offered to do this job.

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-- Mark Silva