Mayor Paul Soglin won't face reelection until 2015, and so far nobody has officially decided to run against him.
Nevertheless, Soglin -- who has held the job longer than anyone else -- held a campaign fundraiser last week at the Hong Kong Café at Regent and Mills streets.
Soglin, who plans to run again, says the event wasn't a campaign kickoff but a bit of an experiment in fundraising. The organizers used only email and Facebook to get the word out about the event. This approach is cheaper, but one disadvantage is that supporters couldn't be sent a pre-addressed envelope for writing a check, in case they couldn't make the event.
But Soglin says the event was well attended and still packed at the end time of 6:30 p.m.
One person often mentioned as a potential opponent, Ald. Mark Clear, acknowledges that he's contemplating a run. But he adds, "I'm not sure I will make a decision about it even this year."
