Why It Matters If Obama Talked to Blagojevich

Jake Tapper has it:

While insisting that the President-elect had not expressed a favorite to replace him, and his inclination was to avoid being a "kingmaker," Axelrod said, "I know he's talked to the governor and there are a whole range of names many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them."

...

Axelrod this evening issued a statement saying. "I was mistaken when I told an interviewer last month that the President-elect has spoken directly to Governor Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy. They did not then or at any time discuss the subject.")

Mark and Tommy have covered this and the fact that this is pretty big. Obama was involved with Blagojevich but has been smart enough in the last few years to get way clear of the impending train wreck in Illinois.

Here's the money quote (emphasis mine):

But there remain questions about how Blagojevich knew that Mr. Obama was not willing to give him anything in exchange for the Senate seat -- with whom was Blagojevich speaking? Did that person report the governor to the authorities?

Exactly. The minute that someone, if anyone, on the Obama staff found out that Blagojevich was using pay to play for his appointment powers, and knowing he was under investigation from the guy who prosecuted a vice presidents staffer for not being forthright enough during deposition...

... the very next call of that staffer should have been to Fitzgerald himself to report the breach of ethics. If this wasn't done, and it sounds like it wasn't, someone might be in a whole heap of trouble, and the Obama administration might be more implicated in this scandal than anyone now thinks.

Axelrod is saying that Obama didn't talk to Blagojevich, which if true gets him off the hook, but it sounds like there's a staffer with a spot under the bus waiting.
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