Blagojevich outfoxed everyone with his Senate appointment of Burris

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — On one side stood the president-elect, 50 Democratic senators on Capitol Hill and just about every politician in Illinois. On the other side was Gov. Rod Blagojevich, criminal defendant and national punchline.

Guess who won?

Blagojevich outfoxed everyone who had warned him not to try to fill the Senate seat he is charged with trying to sell.

Despite the scandal around him, the governor got his way by staring down his opponents with the perfect pick: Roland Burris, a black politician who had an unblemished reputation and big ambitions, guaranteeing he would fight tirelessly for the seat.

Blagojevich also had Illinois law on his side. Moreover, his choice put Democrats in the sticky position of trying to deny entry to the man who would become the chamber's only black member — in the seat that last belonged to Barack Obama, no less.

"It did take a kind of perfect storm, of a governor who is incapable of having scruples and a nominee incapable of shame, to go ahead with it," said Mike Munger, chairman of political science at Duke University. "This was the last card Blagojevich had to play. At least he gets to do something and thumb his nose."

In the end, the Blagojevich-Burris combination proved to be such a distraction that Obama himself reversed course and signaled to Senate leaders that they should seat Burris. Finally, on Monday, they said they would. Vice President Dick Cheney will swear Burris in Thursday on the Senate floor.

Exactly why Blagojevich appointed someone and what he hoped to accomplish are something of a mystery to some political observers. The Democratic governor still faces federal corruption charges. And he has been impeached and faces a state Senate trial later this month that could get him thrown him out of office.

Blagojevich said that he wanted to make sure Illinois had its full representation in the Senate and that lawmakers had failed to set up a special election to fill the seat.

If his intent was to irritate his enemies and bend them to his will, he succeeded. The Miami Herald ran a cartoon of him playing with the Capitol dome like a yo-yo. From inside the dome, labeled "U.S. Senate Dems," someone says: "Either he's real smart, or we're real dumb."

Some political observers speculated initially that Blagojevich picked Burris to curry black support that could help save him from impeachment, or to influence the pool of potential jurors if he eventually stands trial on the corruption charges.

Blagojevich clearly had been shopping around for a candidate who could appeal to black voters who have long been among his most loyal supporters; Rep. Danny Davis said he was approached first but turned the governor down.

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