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If Obama wins, Blagojevich Picks his Successor

Dennis Conrad, Associated press Reporting

WASHINGTON (AP) -- If the nation's voters decide to send Sen. Barack Obama to the White House, there will be another election of sorts in Illinois.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a two-term Democrat at odds with members of his own party, would alone choose who succeeds the state's junior senator.
Some politicians are talking openly about the possibility of being appointed to the Senate and bloggers have begun playing the "who's next" game about the person to fill out the remaining two years of Obama's term.
"I'm sure a lot of people are trying to tell the governor what to do - absolutely," said Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., who did not rule out accepting an appointment.
Recently, the governor was asked about Obama's seat and he mentioned several members of Congress. He also mentioned Tammy Duckworth, the director of the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs who in 2006 lost a bid for Congress.
"I'm just throwing names out," Blagojevich said. He refused to say if he'd consider appointing himself.
Obama, the only black Senator, is trying to become the first black president and that raises the question of whether Blagojevich should consider another black person to replace the senator in the event of a November victory over GOP Sen. John McCain.
"I think that's a consideration that Gov. Blagojevich is likely to think about if he has a chance to fill a vacancy," said Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate. "I'm not going to presume that will make his decision for him."
Others think Blagojevich will have little choice but to pick Obama's successor from the black community, which remains one of the few reliable blocs of support he has after six years of infighting with fellow Democrats.
"I don't think the governor is going to raise eyebrows for who he didn't pick," said state Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, a member of the Democratic-led House leadership team. "I believe the governor would pick an African-American."
The popular assumption is that the new senator would be one of Illinois' 11 Democratic U.S. House members, particularly Jan Schakowsky of Evanston, Jesse Jackson Jr. of Chicago or Luis Gutierrez of Chicago. The governor also could tap someone from the Illinois General Assembly or a statewide officeholder, or even someone outside the world of politics.
Increasingly, the name of Illinois Senate President Emil Jones comes up, both on Capitol Hill and Springfield. The powerful Chicago pol has been an important ally for the governor, and is widely credited for helping to raise Obama's profile for a Senate run while Obama was in the state Senate.
State Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, said Jones could cap his long legislative career by being a U.S. senator, possibly under the condition that he would not seek election in the 2010 primary.
Jones declined an interview request from The Associated Press on the subject, but others question whether he would seriously consider moving to Washington.
"Why would Emil Jones want to be a U.S. senator where, of course, he'd be at the back of the bus?" Rep. Davis asked.
Former GOP Gov. Jim Edgar also wondered if Blagojevich would look to Jones.
"That's the only friend he has in the Legislature," Edgar said. "He can't afford to name Jones ... If he does, he can't rely on who (Jones') successor will be."
State Sen. Donne Trotter of Chicago, a member of the Legislature's black caucus, said there are qualified blacks who should be considered as Obama's replacement but it is not "a black seat."
"We're 10 percent of the population of the state. It's not just a `give me,'" Trotter said.
Davis, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, said he could eagerly support someone outside the black community - for example, a longtime friend and political ally, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn.
"I would not shed one tear if the governor picked Pat Quinn," he said.
How much of a role would President Obama play in evaluating his replacement?
"The only stipulation I think he'll have is that the person would be of extremely high quality, make a good senator and not embarrass him," said Dan Shomon, a former Obama campaign adviser who has not been an official part of the current campaign.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel and Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, the only black in office besides Obama elected statewide, have both said they aren't interested in a Senate appointment.
Gutierrez, who would become Illinois' first Hispanic senator, has not ruled out the possibility of succeeding Obama. And Schakowsky, a national co-chair for Obama's presidential bid, has made it clear for three months that she would be "honored and pleased" to hold a Senate seat.
Jackson, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and also a national co-chair for Obama's campaign, has avoided expressing any interest in the position publicly.
Statewide officeholders such as Comptroller Dan Hynes or Attorney General Lisa Madigan are sometimes cited as possible contenders for Obama's job, though neither has expressed much interest publicly. That assumes Blagojevich is planning to seek a third term in 2010 and would like to remove a potential primary foe.
Madigan is the daughter of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, the Illinois Democratic Party chairman and the top Democratic critic of the governor. Hynes has ridiculed Blagojevich's money-management policies and Quinn is also a sharp critic.
Mike Lawrence, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, said picking a replacement for Obama depends on what Blagojevich does in two years.
"If he's still a viable candidate for re-election, he'll appoint someone who'll help him politically - a black, a Jesse Jackson Jr., someone like that," Lawrence said. "If he's not running again, hard to tell."
Then there's the option the governor has that he does not want to talk about.
"He is not a conventional governor; he could pick himself," Lawrence said.

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