CHICAGO – Karen Lewis says she hasn’t made up her mind about running for mayor, but all the tell-tale signs suggest she will.

Not only has the Chicago Teachers Union president noticeably slimmed down over the past several months, but she’s beginning to talk more like a polished politician than the street fighter she is by nature.

Fresh off a Hawaiian vacation, Lewis met with reporters this week to answer questions about her political future. The labor leader said she won’t make a definitive decision about challenging current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel “until she has the organization, money and voter registrations in place to mount a viable challenge,” SunTimes.com reports.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

“The decision that gets made will be based on what’s best for the city and what’s best for me and my family,” Lewis said, sounding very much like a politician. “… My deadline will be my deadline—whenever it is.”

She described her chances of running as “50-50.”

Still, Lewis’ supporters will soon begin collecting the 12,500 signatures needed to put her on the ballot, a necessary first step to a potential mayoral bid.

Lewis also plans to meet with some of Chicago’s top political operators to get their input before making her decision to challenge Emanuel, ChicagoTribune.com reports.

“Lewis has risen to the top of the list of potential challengers in part because of her willingness to criticize Emanuel’s policies and her built-in base of support leading the teachers union,” ChicagoTribune.com explains. “There’s little downside for her as she talks about possibly running for mayor: she’s free to take swipes at the mayor from a bigger platform, which helps her popularity with many of her union members.”

It’s jaw-dropping to think that a left-wing union radical like Lewis is considered a viable candidate to lead one of America’s most important cities. It was Lewis, after all, who led the city’s first teachers strike in a quarter century after city leaders refused her union’s demand of a 30 percent raise.

MORE NEWS: How to prepare for face-to-face classes

Lewis is also consulting with the head of Los Angeles’ teachers union who – surprise – is threatening to lead a teachers strike.

If that weren’t enough, Lewis is also a detractor of charter schools – the one escape hatch desperate families have from the city’s lousy government-run schools – and a proponent of higher taxes to fund teacher pensions.

She’s also in favor of a slew of new taxes – on financial transactions, services and goods – to solve the city’s financial woes.

If Lewis somehow gets elected mayor of Chicago, residents can expect economic and educational chaos the likes of which they haven’t seen in a long time.