Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) will be dropping his Chicago mayoral bid, Abdon M. Pallasch of the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting on New Year's Eve. Davis will make the announcement at a New Year's Eve press conference at his West Side headquarters, joined by former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun (D-Ill.) and state Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago) who earlier dropped his mayoral bid. The three, all African Americans, have been wrestling over who will drop out in order to try to consolidate the black vote.

This makes Braun the leading African American mayoral contender.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson has been helping to broker some kind of a resolution to having either Braun or Davis drop out.

The front-runner in the Feb. 22 non-partisan primary is Rahm Emanuel, who is getting a chunk of the city's black vote, according to recent polls. The contest is really for second place. If no one gets more than 50 percent in the primary, the top two finishers face off in on April 5. Attorney Gery Chico and City Clerk Miguel del Valle are also running.

Emanuel is on vacation in Thailand.