Todd Stroger Files to Run for Re-Election for Cook County Board President...

According to the Chicago Tribune, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger late Monday afternoon filed his paperwork to run for for re-election.

By waiting until just before the filing deadline, Stroger secured the last position on the ballot, which is considered second best to the first spot.

"I feel great," Stroger said after filing. "I feel like 150 pounds of dynamite."

Stroger joins a crowded Democratic field for county board president. It includes Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown; Ald. Toni Preckwinkle, 4th; and Water Reclamation District President Terrence O'Brien. U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, D-Chicago, has filed for both county board president and Congress. Davis will need to choose between the two by next Monday.

Stroger filed petitions with about 22,000 signatures. Nearly 8,150 valid signatures are needed to withstand a challenge. He has been considered politically vulnerable in the wake of a penny-on-the-dollar sales tax increase he pushed through the county board in February 2008.