Politricks: All Eyes On the Illinois Governor

From the New York Times:

CHICAGO — The task of filling President-elect Barack Obama’s seat in the Senate offers Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois a rare chance to wield influence in Washington.

It also offers Mr. Blagojevich, a Democrat in his second term, the rare chance to focus public attention on something other than his litany of problems — a federal investigation into his administration, his icy standoffs with the Democratic-controlled State Legislature and his dismal approval rating (which, according to a Chicago Tribune survey last month, has sunk to 13 percent, worse even than some approval marks for President Bush).

“Compared to everything else, this is good publicity,” said Kent Redfield, a political scientist at the University of Illinois at Springfield. “Now it’s a matter of doing something on it that helps him politically. He needs to.”

Since Election Day, Mr. Blagojevich’s decision, assigned to him under Illinois law, has become this state’s political parlor game, one buried in layers deeper than just which Democrat will best guard the seat until the 2010 election.

Among the many political concerns: Should another African-American finish the term of Mr. Obama? Should the replacement be a caretaker with no expectations of re-election, or someone who dreams of staying on? And how might Mr. Blagojevich navigate the choice in such a way that might shore up some specks of support for his own political future?

Photo Credit: M. Spencer Green/Associated Press for the New York Times
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