I
was interviewed the other day by National Public Radio about the
"campaign" to fill president-elect Barack Obama's US Senate seat.
Most of what I said was left on the cutting-room floor, but my message to the
NPR reporter was crystal clear: Ignore all the punditry and prognostication.
Admittedly,
it's been enormous fun to watch all the hopefuls scramble for Gov. Rod
Blagojevich's favor. The governor, by law, fills the vacancy, which was created
when Obama resigned on Sunday. Blagojevich hasn't been this popular with this
many politicians since he first took office and was handing out plum jobs and
contracts. Times have changed, and pretty much everybody has treated him like a
radioactive monster for the past couple of years, so I'm sure he's enjoying all
the recent attention.
Congressman
Jesse Jackson, Jr. has gone so far as to line up newspaper endorsements, and at
one point convinced several Washington, DC reporters that he was the
frontrunner to replace Obama. He
even commissioned a statewide poll which he claims shows he'd be the best
candidate of the bunch.
The
Politico's Roger Simon recently pointed to President-elect Obama's choice of
Illinois Veterans Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth to accompany him to a
Veterans' Day wreath-laying ceremony as a significant clue. Duckworth is on
just about everyone's short list. But some Chicago media outlets have reported
that US Sen. Dick Durbin's advocacy of Duckworth's appointment might be hurting
her. Durbin and Blagojevich don't have the best relationship, goes the logic.
Then again, almost everybody has a lousy relationship with this governor.
The
potential appointment list is almost endless. Congressmen like Luis Gutierrez
and Jan Schakowsky have their hands out. Former statewide officials like Roland
Burris have said they're ready, willing and able to serve.
Pretty
much every story published about the vacancy has also mentioned retiring
Illinois Senate President Emil Jones,
partly because Jones is allied so closely with Gov. Blagojevich.
Jones'
downsides are many. He specializes in crony politics. His family has benefitted
mightily from state jobs and contracts. He has almost no respect in the media.
And his antics have lost him most of the respect he once had in political
circles.
Logic
would seem to dictate that the governor would use this appointment to finally
start turning around his absolutely awful reputation with voters. I mean, you'd
think a guy with a 13 percent approval rating would want to nudge that upwards
a little.
But
when has reason or or logic ever entered into Blagojevich's playbook? Was the Statehouse war he waged over
the last two years reasonable or logical? It tanked his poll numbers, but he
kept on fighting. We're talking
about a Democratic governor of one of the most Democratic states in the union
who has lower job approval ratings than lame duck Republican President George
W. Bush. Reason and logic? Please.
The
point is that while the scramble for Obama's seat may be fun to watch,
particularly Congressman Jackson's over the top circus, none of the
"clues" pointed to in the media probably mean anything. Reporters,
pundits and the professional prognosticators are all looking at this in a
logical, traditional way. As mentioned above, this is not usually how Governor
Blagojevich tends to operate.
The
entire spectacle finally became so bizarre that I started to push my own
replacement candidate last week. I decided that a longtime commenter on my blog
who goes by the name of "Bill" and defends Gov. Blagojevich through
thick and thin deserved the Senate seat as much as everyone else. Within 24
hours of starting a FaceBook group for "Bill," over 160 people had
signed up for the cause. That's almost as many "followers" as two
sitting congresspersons attracted to their own FaceBook groups which were
designed to bolster their Senate dreams.
Bill's
"candidacy" now has its own blog and three YouTube
"campaign" videos, all created by a volunteer.
It's
almost a movement.
Yeah,
OK, that's a little over the top. But I figure Bill has just as much of a shot
as anyone, considering who's doing the appointment.