Filling Obama's Senate Seat: Two Elections on Tap for November?

CHICAGO -- The story on replacing Barack Obama in the Senate is taking yet another unusual twist.
A 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling -- little noticed when it was issued on June 16 -- is forcing Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn to hold an election on Nov. 2 to fill the remainder of President Obama's Senate term.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is fighting the ruling, asking the appellate panel to reconsider because it will cause massive voter confusion to elect a lame duck senator who would serve at most a few weeks. The Senate would be out of session on some of those weeks because of the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.), who was tapped to fill the seat by Gov. Rod Blagojevich after Blagojevich was arrested in December 2008 for allegedly trying to "sell" Obama's Senate seat, joined Madigan in objecting to the election.

It turns out that Burris' appointment was not until the end of the current Congress but only until the election in November to fill the Obama seat.

If the ruling stands, Illinois voters on Nov. 2 will have two Senate elections on the ballot: one for a new term starting in January, 2011, where the major contenders are Democrat Alexi Giannoulias and Republican Mark Kirk; the other for the 62 days left in Obama's original term. Since it takes a month to certify an election, the time in the Senate would probably be for about 30 days.

How the nominees would be picked has not been figured out yet. That is all up to U.S. District Court Judge John Grady, who held a hearing on June 23 and will call another one later this month, on how to pull off the lame duck election.

"There is still time to do it right," said Marty Oberman, the former Chicago alderman who is the lead attorney on the case.

In Judge Diane Wood's opinion, she writes: "A writ of election from Gov. Quinn would serve the important function of guaranteeing that the people of Illinois may elect a replacement to President Obama's vacant Senate seat on the date set by the Illinois Legislature. In addition, it would announce to voters that there will be, in effect, two elections on that day -- - one to elect a replacement to fill the vacancy and one to elect a senator to the next Congress."

That's the same Diane Wood who was twice on Obama's short list for Supreme Court Justice.

Judge Grady's courtroom is in the same Dirksen Federal Building courthouse in Chicago where Blagojevich's criminal corruption trial is taking place, with jurors hearing testimony on allegations that Blagojevich tried to trade the Senate seat for either a cabinet post or other jobs for himself or his wife Patti.