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ABC's Brian Ross reported that unidentified "federal" sources told him that US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald timed his arrest of Blagojevich because the governor was about to announce his appointment to fill the vacant Senate seat and the prosecutor wanted to stop it. Ross implied, but did not state, that the lucky politician was to have been Jesse Jackson Jr, the Chicago Congressman. "The day before he was arrested Gov Blagojevich met with Jackson and spoke glowingly of him even though the two had long been political adversaries." Ross identified the unnamed "Senate Candidate #5" in the FBI's complaint against Blagojevich as Jackson. In the complaint Blagojevich allegedly boasted that #5's emissaries had promised a $500,000 upfront fundraiser if he won the appointment.
"I never sent a message or an emissary to the governor to make an offer, to plead my case or to propose a deal about the US Senate seat. Period," was the soundbite from Rep Jackson that both NBC's Lee Cowan (no link) and CBS' Dean Reynolds quoted.
As for Blagojevich himself, President-elect Obama called on him to resign through a spokesman, as did the unanimous Democratic caucus in the US Senate. ABC's George Stephanopoulos (at the tail of the Jake Tapper videostream) described the governor as "just oblivious to these calls." NBC's Cowan went through the state's scenarios sans resignation: impeachment, "a lengthy process," or removal by the state supreme court or a special election for the Senate seat, "a costly option."
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