Are attacks on Bill Daley a sign he's gaining momentum in mayor's race?

CHICAGO (WLS) -- In the race to become Chicago's next mayor Bill Daley is finding himself under attack more and more these days. Could it be a sign the race is tilting in his favor?

Conventional wisdom says those at the top become the target for the most attacks, as their rivals try to bring them down. If that is the case, it could suggest Daley is gaining some momentum that has other candidates concerned.

Friday Daley brought in Former Vice President Al Gore, who he's known since their days together in the Clinton White House, for an endorsement related to climate change policies.

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"When he did run, I immediately called up and said 'What can I do to help,'" Gore said.

Daley's endorsement from a local plumbers union prompted him to skip a prime time television forum Thursday night. That provided ammunition at Friday's forum for Lori Lightfoot, who just got her own endorsement from the Chicago Sun-Times.

"When you take that kind of endorsement they have an expectation that they're getting something that you're protecting their interest," Lightfoot said to Daley during the forum.

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"You know what, you talk about the citizens that's in politics, the attitude you're having right now, and what you're saying about the men and women of the plumbers union or other unions is they really don't care about the city," Daley responded.

Susana Mendoza continued her attacks during a news conference at City Hall.

"He said he had a conflict, I think that conflict was fear," Mendoza said.

Daley seemed to take the attacks as a good sign.

"Well, I don't think they'd be attacking me if they didn't think I was gaining some momentum, so you know they ignored me for four months, and that was fine," Daley said.

Meanwhile, Garry McCarthy sought to bolster his campaign by calling for the Illinois Attorney General's office to investigate how Mayor Rahm Emanuel handled the Laquan McDonald case, including the five million dollar settlement with his family during the mayoral runoff four years ago.

"If you want to call it a cover up, if you want to call it a bribe, if you want to call it awful but lawful, it is something and it needs to be investigated, the circumstances need to be flushed out and the public needs to know about this," McCarthy said after a taping of ABC7's News Views.

McCarthy's campaign said they will be sending a formal letter to the attorney general's office soon.

A source at the mayor's office called McCarthy's' insinuation nonsense.