Of the three impending vacancies in the Senate – the seats of President-Elect Barack Obama in Illinois, Vice President-Elect Joe Biden in Delaware and Secretary of State Designate Hillary Rodham Clinton in New York—the appointment to replace Obama was supposed to be the easiest and had the least potential for serious controversy. Or at least that was true until Tuesday morning when FBI agents arrested Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on charges of trying to sell the Senate seat to the highest bidder, among other allegations.
Blagojevich, a Democrat, was simply supposed to name another Democrat who would serve the remaining two years of Obama’s Senate term then run for a full term in 2010. By contrast, Delaware and New York will hold special elections in 2010, and whoever wins those races will have to run for a full term in 2014 and 2012, respectively. If there was any real potential for controversy surrounding Blagojevich’s appointment it has been the ongoing debate over whether the Governor should select an African American to replace the Senate’s only black member.
It seems, though,
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