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Which would be the more heavily-guarded place to be for a political figure who's received death threats?: a. A school concert in a public venue. b. A press conference in the company of the President-elect of the United States of America. If you answered 'b,' you're thinking like me and presumably most people. If you answered 'a,' you're A.B. Stoddard. The associate editor of "The Hill" newspaper offered up her strange excuse for Rahm Emanuel's failure to attend press conferences with Pres.-elect Obama in the course of an MSNBC appearance this afternoon during which she also claimed that "President-elect Obama...

Director of Illinois Dept. of Veterans' Affairs visits Quincy Duckworth comments on consideration for Senate By Alexis Hunt Saturday, November 08, 2008 at 9:48 p.m. QUINCY, IL -- Now that Barack Obama will be moving to the White House, his seat in the U.S. Senate representing Illinois will have to be filled. Obama met with Governor Rod Blagojevich earlier this week to discuss it. Illinois law states that the governor chooses that replacement. There's already been speculation about his selection...from Congressman Jesse Jackson, Junior to Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth. Duckworth made an appearance in Saturday's Veterans'...

Yesterday the American Patrol Report focused on Barack Obama's links to the Service Employee International Union (SEIU). Within hours we learned that the SEIU was intimately involved in the Gov. Blagojevich's selling of Obama's Senate seat. "Among the revelations contained in the complaint brought against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich yesterday was the description of an official with the Service Employees International Union acting as an apparent intermediary between the governor and Barack Obama's camp in discussions over Obama's http://www.americanpatrol.com/

CHICAGO (AP) -- A spokeswoman for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich says one of his top aides has resigned. Spokeswoman Kelley Quinn on Wednesday said Deputy Gov. Bob Greenlee resigned. The reason for his resignation wasn't immediately clear. Greenlee's resignation comes a day after Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges. Greenlee was promoted to be a top aide to Blagojevich in June, replacing former Deputy Governor Sheila Nix. Greenlee had been a top administration aide previously. State records indicate the 33-year-old Greenlee lives in Chicago and earned $149,000 a year.

The first question on most peoples’ minds has to be is the new president-elect involved and will he be drawn into this? It’s been known for a long time that Obama has had strong ties to Rezko (see, i.e., ) who is revealed yet again in these tapes as the governor’s bagman. If you wanted anything done in Chicago, it appears that you had to do it through payoffs for the governor to Rezko. But the investigation into Governor Rod Blagojevich's selling Obama's Senate seat could involve the president-elect's closest aides...

Lynn Sweet reported that on November 5, 2008, Obama "wrapped up a day of planning for his transition at the office of his friend" John Rogers, the Ariel financial founder. The meeting reportedly took 6 hours. It has been reported that Obama met with/was going to meet with Blagojevich to discuss who would replace Obama in the Senate. Rogers is reportedly (per an LA Times blog) a campaign contributer to both Obama and Blagojevich. Obama denies speaking with Blagojevich about his replacement. Yeah, right.

ON NOW! LAWYER will speak shortly

TV station reported Obama met with Blagojevich: Topic was filling vacated Senate seat. © 2008 WorldNetDaily Barack Obama told reporters yesterday he had no contact with Gov. Rod Blagojevich about filling his vacated Senate seat, but a Nov. 5 news report said the president-elect planned to discuss the subject in a meeting with the Illinois governor that day. The report by KHQA-TV's Carol Sowers, posted on the website of the Quincy, Ill., station, said "one of Obama's first priorities" on the day after his election was a meeting with Blagojevich planned that afternoon to discuss the Senate seat. A story...

"...John Harris re-stated Rod Blagojevich's thoughts that they should ask the President-elect for something for Rod Blagojevich's financial security as well as maintain his political viability. Harris said they could work out a three-way deal with SEIU and the President- elect where SEIU could help the President-elect with Rod Blagojevich's appointment of Senate Candidate 1 to the vacant Senate seat, Rod Blagojevich would obtain a position as the National Director of the Change to Win campaign, and SEIU would get something favorable from the President-elect in the future..."

President-elect Barack Obama is calling for the Illinois governor to resign. Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs says the president-elect agrees with other prominent politicians in Illinois and elsewhere that "under the current circumstances, it is difficult for the governor to effectively do his job and serve the people of Illinois."

NEW YORK – While prosecutors are making no allegations against Barack Obama in the massive criminal complaint unsealed yesterday against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a separate civil case in Chicago asserts the president-elect benefited from a shady land deal orchestrated by convicted felon Antonin "Tony" Rezko.

Sweet catch by Tapper, showing why he got that promotion. Obama today…“I had no contact with the governor or his office and so I was not aware of what was happening, ” Obama told reporters today in Chicago. “It’s a sad day for Illinois. Beyond that, I don’t think it’s appropriate to comment.” …versus Axelrod on November 23, as seen below. Be sure to read Tapper’s post, as he has plenty more on The One’s long history as a friend of — and advisor to — Blago. Axelrod himself begged off Blagojevich’s first gubernatorial campaign because “I was concerned about...

Merry Fitzmas, DUmmies! It's here, the day you've been waiting for, for all these many business months! Only it's not Karl Rove doing the frog-march. It's a DEMOCRAT, longtime Obambi ally, Illinois Gov. Rod "I want to make money" Blagojevich. "A political corruption crime spree," a "staggering" level of corruption, "a truly new low"--that's how Fitzie described Blago's expletive-laced pay-to-play plotting caught on tape. Yet in the face of MASSIVE evidence of Blago's blatant bribe-seeking--even trying to SELL Obambi's vacant Senate seat--SOME DUmmies think it's just Rethuglican persecution, or else they minimize what Blagojevich did by saying Rethugs do...

The sentencing of former Democratic National Committee fund-raiser Joseph Cari Jr. has been delayed at the request of prosecutors. It's a sign the feds want to use Cari as a witness -- again. Cari, who has admitted guilt in a corruption case, is a former campaign fund-raiser for Vice President-elect Joe Biden, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton and Gov. Blagojevich. He was supposed to be sentenced months ago, after he testified against Tony Rezko, the former fund-raiser for Blagojevich and President-elect Barack Obama. But that was put off, and no new date has been set. At Rezko's trial, Cari testified that...

Update, 3:22 p.m. ET: President-elect Barack Obama offered a brief comment about the Blagojevich arrest following his meeting today in Chicago with former Vice President Al Gore. "I had no contact with the governor or his office and so I was not aware of what was happening," Obama said. "But as I said it is a sad day for Illinois. Beyond that I don't think it's appropriate to comment." Update, 1:55 p.m. ET: Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin (D) is calling for a special election to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of President-elect Barack Obama. Such a move would...

CHICAGO (Reuters) – President-elect Barack Obama was in no way implicated in the federal corruption charges against the governor of his home state of Illinois, a fellow Democrat, ... "I should make clear the complaint makes no allegations about the president-elect whatsoever," said U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested on corruption charges on Tuesday, including trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Obama. ... Fiztgerald told a news conference .. he had wanted to stop a "crime spree."

Gov. Rod Blagojevich became the state's first Democratic chief executive in more than a quarter of a century after vowing to reform what he labeled the culture of corruption surrounding his predecessor that had fed deep cynicism among Illinoisans. But little more than a year after replacing George Ryan in office in 2003, Blagojevich found his administration at the early stages of what became a host of state and federal investigations into allegations of wrongdoing involving state hiring, board appointments, contracting and fundraising that battered his tenure. In their prosecution of Blagojevich fundraisers and allies, dubbed "Operation Board Games," federal...

The Sun Times today gave a major clue that Barack Obama will indeed go down with Tony Rezko, sooner rather than later. It looks as though Rezko is about to turn on Alexi Giannoulias, the 30-year old State Treasurer of Illinois (who was elected only because Obama backed him). Here’s where all the clues are…and then we’ll walk you through the local Chicago politics on how today’s hint by the Sun Times has us convinced, for the first time ever, that prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald could indeed send Barack Obama to jail. We need to repeat that: we never believed, until...

The Sun Times today gave a major clue that Barack Obama will indeed go down with Tony Rezko, sooner rather than later. It looks as though Rezko is about to turn on Alexi Giannoulias, the 30-year old State Treasurer of Illinois (who was elected only because Obama backed him). Here’s where all the clues are…and then we’ll walk you through the local Chicago politics on how today’s hint by the Sun Times has us convinced, for the first time ever, that prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald could indeed send Barack Obama to jail. We need to repeat that: we never believed, until...

Tonight we talked to someone who works in the federal courts here in Chicago. The buzz in those corridors is that federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has been leading a team of FBI investigators in 10 states working on a RICO case. Today, it was announced that ACORN is being investigated in 10 states. That’s one Hell of a coincidence. We asked why Fitzgerald would be involved in this, because he’s the prosecutor on the Tony Rezko case and we aren’t aware of ACORN being investigated in Illinois. We were told that ACORN was investigated in Illinois years ago, and it...