Actually, a hybrid solution would be the best. Given the tough economic situation, Quinn should fill the position with an appointment---thereby preventing the expense of a special election. Then, they can come back at a later date and set up a provision for the electorate to choose.

The electing vs. appointing question is all about Pat Quinn and his relationship with the party establishment.

Durbin, among others, dislikes the guy. Most of the establishment consider Quinn self-righteous and not a team player. That is he's never joined the pay-to-play system, so they don't trust him.

Durbin just personally dislikes Quinn going back to at least the '96 Dem primary when Durbin beat Quinn to replace Sen. Paul Simon.

AG Lisa Madigan wants to run for governor. She probably should have run in 2006, but had recently given birth and it didn't fit her personal sked.

Lisa Madigan and her dad Michael Madigan, who is both Speaker of the House and chair of the Illinois Dems, were planning to run against Blago in 2010. She would have killed him.

But running against Quinn, who is a populist with some crossover appeal to the GOP and a squeaky clean liberal--oh, and he's Irish to boot with decent connections in the Black community--is a tougher opponent.

Quinn's weakness is he's not that good at raising money, but if he develops a good track record as governor and he's got favors to call in, like he appointed the U.S. Senator, maybe an Obama person, then he's doing OK.

Quinn was on NPR yesterday saying that normally a special election would be best but that right now we need as many Dems in the Senate as possible so that President Obama can have the best chance to pass his legislation.

"... it could also mean the seat gets filled much faster, putting the mess behind everyone."

are you kidding?

unless there is a special election, whoever is appointed is going to have a problem retaining the seat.

you don't eliminate "stink" by balling up the offending dirty underpants and throwing them under the bed.

you have to rinse and air them.

with the illinois senate seat, that means a special election. anything less is just more of the same.

It all depends on what they can do faster- push through a bill for the special election or impeach Blago. (This assumes Blago will [1] stall as long as possible then veto the special election bill and [2] not resign. They are probably both safe bets, [2] more so than [1].) The only real motivation behind the special election is to keep Blago from making the appointment- no one really minds having the gov appoint the successor as far as I know. Or didn't. Attitudes may be changing due to this. Illinois has so many governmental problems that the debate between the two processes, in the absence of Blago, seems a bit arcane.

We know Blagojevich isn't going to fill the Senate vacancy.

Well, actually, we don't. He could appoint someone today. We know that Senate leaders have threatened what is quite likely an unconstitutional abuse of power in not seating someone so appointed as a deterrent, but we don't know how whether Blagojevich will be deterred, or will take it as a challenge.

Impeachment proceedings have been looked at for years according to... can't remember, but he was on Keith O last night. He is the guy who will actually start the process. So I suspect the kinks have been worked out and that can happen fast.

The fact that Blago was trying to leverage the seat for cash leads me to believe he is going to the same with his resignation. He is going to want something in order to restore order in Illinois and the Congress. No deal, no resignation.

interestingly, fritchey is blagojevich's state rep.

Quinn has long been a backer of a recall process, which passed the state house but not the state senate. A recall election would have cost 10 times what a special election would cost now. This is the closest he could come to becoming gov.

I still think Lisa Madigan would beat Quinn in a primary in 2010. She's doing a bang-up job as state's attorney, and she's liked all over the state. Quinn has his backers, but he's always looked on as more of a gadfly.

I don't like the precedents set for any of these, but the most important thing is to get Blago out ASAP.

The seat is currently vacant & needs to be filled ASAP. Congress reconvenes on January 8, which is also when confirmation hearings begin for Obama's Cabinet. We need every available Democrat seated at that time to insure the smoothest possible confirmation process, especially since some of the Republican Congresscritters have already indicated they will be in full obstructionist mode.

Blago's gotta go so Quinn can name Obama's replacement in the Senate & Emmanuel's in the House.

It would be nice of Mr. Blagojevich to resign and save us a lot of headaches, but he doesn't see his role as serving the public interest. What's in it for him? He might resign if he can cut a deal...but there has to be a deal. After all, he is ruined, and he feels he deserves to walk away with something. And the case against him is not terribly strong; money had not yet changed hands (in the matter at hand), if we are believe court papers filed in this case.

I admire and respect Lisa Madigan as AG, and would like to see her elected governor some day, but the filing before the Supreme Court is just waving paper around; they're not going to do the deed. He is physically capable of being governor, so they see it as a political issue. The legislature may eventually get around to impeaching him, but it is going to take some time. Essentially, they will, as a body, procrastinate while they see if they can get something out of it for themselves. Also, although there seems to be little needed in the way of grounds for impeachment, legislators will want to be seen as convicting him of official misconduct. But, since he was only talking about official misconduct, it's going to take some time to put together something that sounds high-minded.

The most efficient way of disposing of Blagojevich is for Patrick Fitzgerald to cut a deal with him in exchange for his resignation. Even that would take a few months.

You sure are putting an awful burden of intelligence on a confirmed moron.