Dems hold breath on Burris

By: Manu Raju
Politico
February 17, 2009

Senate Democrats — who’ve twice looked to the state of Illinois to save them from the Rod Blagojevich mess — may be crossing their fingers and hoping that the third time’s the charm.

When Blagojevich was arrested last year, Senate Democrats hoped the state Legislature would toss him from office before he could name a new senator to take Barack Obama’s seat. When that didn’t happen, Senate Democrats hoped that the Illinois secretary of state’s refusal to certify appointment papers would give them an easy way to avoid seating Blagojevich’s pick, Roland Burris.

That didn’t work either.

So now that Burris finds himself in the midst of the Blagojevich controversy — he’s admitted he had contacts with the governor’s brother that he didn’t acknowledge before — Senate Democrats are once again needing a fix from Illinois. Convinced that Burris would be a weak candidate if he runs for election in 2010, some Washington Democrats — and some back home in Illinois — hope that an investigation in Illinois will either force Burris to resign or inflict such damage that he can’t mount a serious run when the time comes.

(More here.)