Corruption

Will Blago Scandal Hurt Obama?

Pres-elect taking questions today.

Obama says indicted Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich should stand aside while the investigation continues into allegations he tried to sell the president elect’s Senate seat. But he has failed to condemn him. A statement from his transition team said, "The president elect agrees…that under the current circumstances it is difficult for the governor to effectively do his job and serve the people of Illinois" and should therefore resign. And U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., a frontrunner for the vacant Senate seat, admitted he was the unnamed Senate Candidate 5 mentioned by federal prosecutors as one of the hopefuls Blagojevich allegedly sought to squeeze in a plot to sell the Senate seat vacated by Obama, but denied directing emissaries to negotiate with Blagojevich. A letter to Blagojevich from the 50 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus, signed by the No. 2 member in Democratic leadership, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, also urged him to resign and not name a successor to Obama "for the good of the Senate and our nation." If he does, they threatened to refuse to allow a Blagojevich appointee to take the seat.