Here's a roundup of the latest happenings in the Democratic primary for Cook County Board President:

Preckwinkle's Platform

Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th Ward) attempted to steer the campaign back to the issues on Thursday, rolling out a 12-point plan for reforming county government. Crain's Greg Hinz points out that the wonkish proposal puts to shame the "chestnuts" like "increased transparency" and opposing "corruption and wasteful spending" that Water Reclamation District President Terry O'Brien is offering on his website. "He offers no details," Hinz adds.  By contrast, read Preckwinkle's entire plan here.

Reporters at the downtown press conference couldn't resist tossing out a few political questions, though. Among them was WLS' Bill Cameron, who wondered aloud if Preckwinkle's candidacy will ultimately be eclipsed by the same sort of "black pride" that helped propel current president Todd Stroger into office. "This is not an African-American primary. This is a Democratic primary," Preckwinkle responded. "The African-American community will be about 30 percent of the vote in this county. Whoever wins this election is going to have to appeal, not simply to the African-American community, but to the Latino and the Asian community and the larger white community. I think I'm the best candidate to do that." Watch:

A Stalking Horse?

In the video above, you might have heard Cameron mention the theory that "Dorothy is probably the stalking horse ... on behalf of O'Brien."  So what's that all about?

On Monday, the Sun-Times Tim Novak dug into the candidates' nominating petitions and found some strange "coincidences" that suggest Cook County Circuit Clerk Dorothy Brown may have been inserted in the race to split the black vote for Terrence O'Brien's benefit (he's the only white candidate in the Democratic primary). From his article:

The O'Brien and Brown campaigns say they had no idea that some of the same volunteers were working on their campaigns.

The proof is in the nearly two-foot-high stacks of nominating petitions each filed with the Cook County clerk's office three weeks. [...]

Of O'Brien's 2,000-plus petitions, 10 virtually mirror petitions Brown submitted, according to a Chicago Sun-Times examination of the thousands of petitions submitted by each candidate. Nearly all of the 200 voters who signed those 10 nominating petitions for O'Brien also signed for Brown -- and in the same order.

Stroger MIA

Speaking of Stroger, he caught some flak from his fellow Democratic contenders for skipping out on a North Side candidate forum last Sunday.  Watch an ABC7 report on the event:

Stroger eventually offered up an explanation for his absence. Oddly enough, his defense was the Sun-Times' investigation detailed above. From a statement:

"On yesterday the campaign of President Todd H. Stroger was told of the Chicago Sun Time's investigation involving an alleged conspiracy involving Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown and Commissioner Terry O'Brien, against President Stroger. Due to the strong nature of the allegations now detailed on today's front page of the Chicago Sun Times, it was then decided that the President not attend the 43rd Ward forum held on yesterday.

It's worth noting out that Stroger did make it to a separate forum later that day in Oak Park.

Davis Hedges On Stroger's Viablity

Back when Rep. Danny Davis was still mulling a run for board president (an idea he eventually abandoned), the veteran congressman said during an appearance on Fox Chicago that he would try to dissuade Stroger from seeking reelection.  Davis said he would tell the board president point-blank, "I don't think you'd get elected." Now that Davis is no longer seeking Stroger's seat, he appears a bit more reluctant to criticize Stroger.

On Fox Chicago Sunday last weekend, host Jack Conaty explicitly asked Davis: "Congressmen do you see a scenario where you could endorse Todd Stroger?"  After Davis talked around the question, Conaty pushed a little harder. Davis' response? "I just don't know yet." You can watch the entire interview here.

CFL Staying Out Of The Race

The Chicago Federation of Labor announced its endorsements in the various Cook County Democratic primaries this week, but declined to pick a favorite in the board president race.  It will be interesting to see if any major labor unions decide to wade into this race, considering its thorny political dynamics.