Did Obama meet with Blagojevich about the IL Senate seat?

He says he didn’t but this article scrubbed from a Quincy, IL television stations sure sounds like he intended to and Blago’s office sure implied they met. Read on.

By Carol Sowers
Wednesday, November 05, 2008 at 10:39 a.m.
CHICAGO, ILL. — Now that Barack Obama will be moving to the White House, his seat in the U.S. Senate representing Illinois will have to be filled.
That’s one of Obama’s first priorities today.
He’s meeting with Governor Rod Blagojevich this afternoon in Chicago to discuss it.
Illinois law states that the governor chooses that replacement.
There’s already been speculation about his selection…from Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. of Chicago’s south side who co-chaired Obama’s presidential campaign, to recently-retired state senate president Emil Jones, to the governor himself.
It’s likely the governor will make his decision quickly so the new senator will get some seniority before newly-elected senators take office in January.
Part of the timing depends on when Obama officially vacates his senate seat.
KHQA’s Alexis Hunt is speaking with Illinois Senator John Sullivan today about his thoughts on that replacement process, his time working with Obama in the state senate, and if there’s a chance Sullivan might play a role in the Obama administration. Watch KHQA News at 5:00, 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. tonight to hear what he has to say.

According to Blago, Obama did not want to deal for more than “appreciation” but if they did meet, perhaps this is how Blago knew Senate Candidate 1 was Valerie Jarrett.
Gateway Pundit has the screen capture and lots more.
What is strange about this is that the KHQA articles about this topic are now gone. At least, the Gov’s office has not scrubbed their website of the meeting info.
And more from RBO…
KHQA issues a retraction on the stories that were scrubbed:

KHQA TV wishes to offer clarification regarding a story that appeared last month on our website ConnectTristates.com. The story, which discussed the appointment of a replacement for President Elect Obama in the U.S. Senate, became the subject of much discussion on talk radio and on blog sites Wednesday.
The story housed in our website archive was on the morning of November 5, 2008. It suggested that a meeting was scheduled later that day between President Elect Obama and Illinois Governor Blagojevich. KHQA has no knowledge that any meeting ever took place. Governor Blagojevich did appear at a news conference in Chicago on that date.

However, the station reported on the 8th that a meeting did take place. Both Obama and Blagojevich were in Chicago but other than these reports, I have seen nothing else linking them. Itineraries, anyone? Blago held a news conference and indicated that Obama’s opinion would be important but did not confirm a meeting.
UPDATE: Via Gateway Pundit, and DirectorBlue, another source (Chicago Tribine) quoting Blagojevich acknowledging conversations with Obama regarding the Senate selection process.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday cited the potential for bad “karma” and avoided discussing potential Senate successors to Barack Obama should the Democratic nominee win the White House, but acknowledged he has a process in mind for making the most important appointment of his career.
“I just don’t want to jinx him and I don’t like the karma of me thinking that far ahead,” Blagojevich said of Obama’s prospects in Tuesday’s election. The governor added, “We have had some discussions about a process which we’ll share … if all goes well.”

The Wall Street Journal puts two and two together to wonder aloud if Blago did indeed talk to someone in the Obama camp. Valerie Jarrett’s exit from Candidate 1 status may be related to Obama’s reluctance to make a deal.

3 thoughts on “Did Obama meet with Blagojevich about the IL Senate seat?”

  1. I read in several articles that the governor ignored Obama’s suggestion for the Senate seat – I’d consider that a conversation

  2. I’m sure there is a logical explanation for David Axelrod’s misspeaking and the KHQA misreporting.
    What seems more strange that they talked would be if they didn’t talk about the Senate seat. Why in the world wouldn’t Obama have a conversation regarding the seat? No harm in that.

  3. The government has had this guy under investigation for YEARS! If there was something to blame Obama for that would have come up in the investigation – the fact of the matter is, nothing of the sort was revealed and all I see people doing now is trying to find a way to rationalize their dislike for the president-elect! 🙂

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