Maybe not all of the 7 that Doug proposed, but enough to make me comfortable that we’ll be getting a lot more information about his staff’s contact with the Illinois Governor’s office.
Ambinder has more…
In a press conference today, President-elect Barack Obama said that he’s “absolutely certain” that no one in his campaign had anything to [...]

The Politico lists some Balgojevich-related questions that the President-elect should be asked:
1 – “Did you communicate directly or indirectly with Blagojevich about picking your replacement in the U.S. Senate?”….
2 – “Why didn’t you or someone on your team correct your close adviser David Axelrod when he said you had spoken to Blagojevich about picking your [...]

So, it didn’t take long for the taint of scandal to hit Barack Obama’s not-yet-in-power administration. With the arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, it’s hard for anyone but the hardest core Obamaphiles to wonder what Obama’s relationship with Blagojevich is and whether the president-elect or his people had any dealings with the governor concerning [...]

For some reason, the Illinois General Assembly doesn’t think Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is qualified to choose Barack Obama’s replacement for U.S. Senate. So, the Assembly is beginning a special session next week to vote on holding a special election to fill Obama’s vacant seat until 2010.
Blagojevich would have the power to veto a bill [...]

Maybe it’s just me, but do the following “artist depictions” strike you as a tad on the amateurish side?
First, Blagojevich hangs his head and can’t even make eye contact with the judge, but that’s a big deal since she’s talking to somebody in the far left corner of the room…

Then, Blagojevich has loosened his shirt [...]

This is the entire press conference.
Worth a look if you want to see understand just how much trouble Blagojevich is in.

(h/t: Top of the Ticket)

A reporter suggested yesterday that he may have been, but Emanuel denies it.
Via TPM:
A source close to Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel is denying reports that Rahm tipped off the Feds to Blagojevich’s alleged efforts to sell Obama’s Senate seat. [...]
“It may have been Rahm Emanuel who tipped the scale and made this move [...]

Here’s the short version: Blagojevich = Moron.
Now for the long version…

One interesting thing that Lynn Sweet brought up in that clip was the idea of how little Blagojevich was involved in the Obama campaign. In fact, she said she would have been laughed at if she had asked what role Blagojevich played in the campaign. [...]

That’s the speculation at this hour…

And it looks like Blagojevich was going after everybody for money, even Warren Buffett…
In a November 11th conversation with John Harris, his Chief of Staff, Blagojevich said he could start a 501(c)(4) political organization to extract money from the billionaire Sage of Omaha, whom the governor called Obama’s “friend.”
“What, for [...]

Word is that Obama would like to see his longtime friend fill the remaining time in his Senate seat.
From CNN:
A prominent Democratic source close to Obama said Jarrett is also Obama’s choice to be named to take over his seat in the Senate, though Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich would have the final say over a [...]

Duh.
21 electoral votes.

One of my favorite books to read my children is Duck for President. It’s about a duck who holds an election to replace the farmer. Then he runs for governor. Then he runs for president. He wins easily, but, at each stop, he is dissatisfied and immediately begins his next campaign.
As I was mulling over [...]

In an otherwise by-the-numbers pro-Sarah Palin editorial, The Wall Street Journal makes one very interesting point:
Mr. Obama rose through the Chicago Democratic machine without a peep of push-back. Alaska’s politics are deeply inbred and backed by energy-industry money. Mr. Obama slid past the kind of forces that Mrs. Palin took head on.
Palin became Alaska’s governor [...]

Keeping the Washington interests out of his campaign? Perhaps not, and this is something I’m keeping an eye on…especially since ethanol is widely seen as a boondoggle.
From NY Times…
Mr. Obama is running as a reformer who is seeking to reduce the influence of special interests. But like any other politician, he has powerful constituencies that [...]

There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about Barack Obama and his qualifications to be president. But one manufactured scandal I think just isn’t that big of a deal is Obama’s past associations with Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, the former members/leaders of the Vietnam-era terrorist group, the Weather Underground. Mind you, I have [...]

Okay, so you heard the story from Alan, but let’s be clear about what Obama did here.
He challenged that printed names were not legally valid for petitions and that the petition collectors needed to be properly registered. The laws in Chicago state pretty plainly that people have to get actual signatures on petitions and that [...]

No sooner do I write about Hillary picking up a superdelegate and pulling closer to Obama, and now he just added 3 more (in addition to the Joe Andrew, the former DNC Chair).
So the post-PA pickup tally is now 14-7.
From Sun Times:
WASHINGTON–When the Democratic Party of Illinois meet next week to finish filling out [...]

Will there be any backlash for Barack? Probably not since these charges are unrelated to anything that Barack ever had anything to do with, but do know that people will try to bring this up in the coming week.
From Chicago Tribune:
Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a key fundraiser for Gov. Blagojevich and other Illinois politicians, was arrested [...]