WASHINGTON--Chicago mayoral hopeful Carol Moseley Braun, a former senator and ambassador, hits Washington on Wednesday for fund-raisers for his campaign hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus and the National Organization for Women. This out-of-town travel comes after she criticized rival Rahm Emanuel for flying to Hollywood for a funder hosted by his superagent brother Ari. The Chicago Sun-Times Fran Spielman and Abdon M. Pallasch have the story.

Braun lags seriously behind in fund-raising. As of Dec. 31, Emanuel had raised $10.5 million (on top of $1.1 million left over from his House warchest) to $2.5 million for attorney Gery Chico, to $450,000 for Braun and $110,000 for City Clerk Miguel Del Valle.