Reports are in that Blago is going to name his senator today, state attorney general Roland Burris.
It's clever. Burris is a longtime figure in the political establishment of Illinois, he's not associated with any terrible controversy or scandal, and he's black. He would be the only Afircan American in the Senate, and of course he'd be replacing the former only African American in the Senate, who resigned and is moving into the White House.
Nice chess move. Burris, 71, certainly didn't make many Senate lists back in November after the election. He's mostly been a dutiful time-server, although one could argue that having played in Illinois politics for a quarter-century without getting indicted or even named in a major scandal is an accomplishment.
MSNBC is reporting that Burris has said he would not run in 2010; he'd just serve out the term. At least so he says now. But anyway, is Harry Reid really going to block the replacement of the only black senator with a new black senator because the man who appointed him is tainted? Could be, but I doubt it. Meanwhile, Blago gets two things. He gets to look progressive, and he takes a step that reasserts an aura of normalcy about him.
