"How'd this guy win two terms?"

Judy Baar Topinka, that's how. The Republicans threw in the towel.

I hate to say it, but i'm guessing we're seeing the beginning of Whitewater, Pt. II. January 21 we will hear Republicans utter the word "impeachment."

He won two terms because the Illinois GOP is in a complete shambles and has been unable to field an acceptable candidate. Remember, those are the people who thought it would be a great idea to run Alan Keyes against Barack Obama in 2004.

Open Road Tolling won him the second term. Well, that and the Republican party in Illinois is a joke that doesn't need a punchline.

Interesting that Obama can take credit for the new ethics bill which goes into effect Jan. 1. He called on his king maker (Jones?) to get it passed prior to the Nov. election.

My guess is that Fitzgerald knew that Obama was clean, he had been in Chicago for decades and was close enough to Rezco and the Gov. that any issues would have shown up. If the investigation was allowed to continue in secret it would lead to a nasty taint to everyone considered for Obama's seat, for the Obama Administration and for what Obama did or didn't do with the USA's office in Chicago.

Fitzgerald said as much in his news conference: if we let bad things happen and don't step in until March or May, the citizens of Illinois will suffer, a hospital may lose funding, an editor may be fired, etc.

"I hate to say it, but i'm guessing we're seeing the beginning of Whitewater, Pt. II. January 21 we will hear Republicans utter the word "impeachment.""

I doubt it. One, Obama comes off looking good because he wouldn't play ball, and two, what with two foreign wars and an economy in shambles, we have real problems to worry about.

Oh, no, Chocolate Thunder. The last thing the Republicans want is to deal with real issues. For one thing, these are issues that they created. For another, if they help solve these problems, it will make Obama look good. If Obama looks good, the whole Democratic Party looks good, and they certainly don't want that.

So, yes the Republicans will do anything they can to stall and distract, then blame it all on the Dems and Obama. Just wait for it.

The first time he ran was in the wake of the George Ryan scandal, and the Illinois GOP ran a fellow with the unfortunate name of Jim Ryan (for what it's worth, Obama was also going to run against someone named Ryan when he ran for Senate, but that guy had to bow out due to his fondness for public sex, and was hence replaced by Keyes). The second time around, the GOP had a hard time picking between Jim Oberweis and Judy Baar Topinka, and after a Clinton v. Obama-esque primary slugfest, settled on Topinka, a bonafide odd lady.

That's known as the Gary Hart bravado. It worked well for Gary too.

"I would remind them that it kind of smells like Nixon and Watergate"

Yeah, Rod, and you would be, um, Nixon.

First term: Blagojevich cast himself as a reformer and the people bought it. The irony is indeed rich.

Second term: The Republicans imploded. The moderate Topinka who ran against Blago in his reelection campaign gained almost no support from the winger Republicans. Blago trashed her big time with his corrupt source of campaign funds. For anyone with any sense of campaign fairness, it was a travesty. She had minimal resources to fight back. Most of us knew that he was corrupt by this time but many democrats held their noses and voted for him anyway. I voted for Topinka. There is no way she could have governed any worse than the incompetent and corrupt Blagojevich.

Nixon? Isn't that a bit like an accused serial killer bringing up Jeffrey Dahmer?

The GOP has no idea how to govern a state like Il. Small government with one sourse of revenue (sales tax) will never support a world class city like Chicago.

Ugh. This is so Gary Hart. Dems have to get off their wildly incumbent asses and dump disasters like this -- in state houses, in congress -- so that they don't become (like Larry Craig and Blithering Sarah) the gifts that keep on giving. If Dems had dumped, for example, Rep. Jefferson of LA, we'd surely have kept the seat.

Recently, it has been scientifically determined happiness is contagious. Unfortunately for the Governor, federal prosecutors can also feel happiness.

"How'd this guy win two terms?"

Simple. The Illinois GOP is an absolute joke. If they aren't dead, they're at the very least in a very deep coma and given that Obama will be in the White House, God only knows when they'll get out of it.

And to the person above who says this is going to be Obama's Whitewater, be serious. Obama had nothing to do with Blaggy's antics and not only rebuffed his offers, it's looking like they turned him into the Feds (which Blaggy should have expected if he was stupid enough to cross Emanuel). If anything, Obama'll look like the reformer who helped get rid of an absolute sleezeball.

nixon made his own tapes.

by comparing his situation with nixon and watergate, is he acknowledging that he is a corrupt politician?

although i am sure that is not his intent, that's what he's doing.

Lou hit the nail on the head. Unfortunately, I voted for him the second time knowing he was a scumbag, but thinking Topika was still slightly worse.

I think for me, had the national republican party not been so repulsive at that time, I probably would've voted for Topinka. Still, its a mistake I won't make again. But when the Bushies tried to push Fitzgerald out, most every Chicagoan I spoke to wanted him to remain prosecutor - moreso for his ability to break up city/state political corruption than the Scooter Libby prosecution.

There's plenty more to go after in this state. Todd Stroger should be next in line.

"How'd this guy win two terms?"

Well, he stole in Florida the first time, and in Ohio the second.

Oh. You mean Blagojevich.

Well, he probably got more votes.

Seriously, Americans elect corrupt polls all the time. They used to make a habit of it in Louisiana.

Delusional and Narcissistic--classic textbook comments.

How did Blago win a second term?

I was torn between him and his GOP challenger right up to Election Day in November 2006. Though I knew Blagojevich was under investigation, I took a pragmatic approach with Obama in mind. A Democratic governor would appoint a Democrat to fill his Senate seat.

Don't ask me why I had a strong feeling about Obama reaching the presidency months before he even announced his candidacy in February 2007.

Somehow, I just knew.

For those who don't know much about Illinois politics...Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn (a progressive Democrat) won independently of Blagojevich because of the primary-election structure in this state. From what I've read and heard throughout the years, he and the gov barely speak and certainly aren't close.

Thank God!

He won against a moderate Republican and a Green candidate who received a pretty significant share of the votes; the Republican, Topinka, was an unimpressive candidate running against a well-funded incumbent. Others have noted the problems in the Illinois Republican party.

A few people have commented on what a moron Blago. must be for pulling this stunt. Well, he probably is, but I heard a long discussion on Chicago talk radio that tied this to some extensive ethic reforms taking effect January 1st; apparently Blago. does not have much money and knows he will need a huge war chest to fight prosecutions in the future; he also needs to look out for his financial future as he would not likely be reelected as gov. He was trying to get it in under the wire, if you will forgive the pun.

I'd say, if they keep the bail amount at $4500.00, no wonder these politicians continue to be corrupt.

If a regular citizen on the street did this, bribery, extortion, and because of his bullying tactics, terrorist threats would have been thrown in. For sure, the bail would probably be no bail based on the charges.