BARACK OBAMA wants Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich to resign following the governor's arrest on corruption charges, including an alleged attempt to sell the president-elect's vacant Senate seat.
Mr Blagojevich returned to work yesterday, a day after he appeared in court on charges that could lead to a prison sentence of up to 20 years. Incoming White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said, however, that Mr Obama believes the governor should step down and leave the Illinois state assembly to decide how the Senate seat should be filled.
"The president-elect agrees with Lieutenant Governor [Patrick] Quinn and many others that under the current circumstances it is difficult for the governor to effectively do his job and serve the people of Illinois," Mr Gibbs said.
Mr Blagojevich, who was 52 yesterday, has denied any wrongdoing and is free to remain as governor until he is impeached or resigns. The governor's lawyer, Sheldon Sorosky, said after the arrest that he knew of no immediate plans for Mr Blagojevich to resign, adding that the governor asks Illinois residents to have faith in him. "I suppose we will have to go to trial," Mr Sorosky said.
To force the governor from office, the Illinois House of Representatives must first consider whether there were grounds for impeachment and if a majority of the House votes yes, then the state Senate would hold a trial.
It takes a two-thirds vote in the Senate to convict, and the only possible punishments are removal from office and disqualification from holding any other office.
Citing law enforcement officials, ABC News yesterday identified Congressman Jesse Jackson jnr as "Senate candidate 5" whose emissaries the governor reportedly claimed offered up to $1 million to name him to the US Senate. The son of the civil rights leader, Mr Jackson has been widely touted as a candidate to succeed Mr Obama in the Senate.
He said yesterday that he did not know if he was "Senate candidate 5" but insisted that investigators have told him he is not a target of the investigation.
"It is impossible for someone on my behalf to have a conversation that would suggest any type of quid pro quo or any payments or offers - an impossibility to an absolute certainty," Mr Jackson said. The FBI says that in an October 31st conversation recorded on a wiretap, Mr Blagojevich described an approach from an associate of Senate candidate 5.
"We were approached 'pay to play'. That, you know, he'd raise me 500 grand. An emissary came. Then the other guy would raise a million, if I made him (Senate candidate 5) a senator." Mr Obama has denied discussing the Senate seat with Mr Blagojevich and the president-elect's senior adviser David Axelrod said he was mistaken when he suggested last month that the two men had discussed the issue.
"I have not discussed the Senate seat with the governor at any time. My strong belief is that it needed to be filled by somebody who is going to represent the people of Illinois and fight for them," Mr Obama told the Chicago Tribune.
The president-elect declined to be drawn on whether any members of his staff discussed the issue with the governor's office, declaring that it would be inappropriate to comment further on an ongoing investigation.
The scandal in Illinois comes as a new poll shows that three out of four Americans feel positive about Mr Obama's election as president and nearly 8 in 10 approve of the way he is handling his transition to the White House. The Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll found, however, that fewer than half of those surveyed believe Mr Obama will withdraw all combat troops from Iraq within 16 months, as promised, and only about four in 10 believe he will be able to provide affordable healthcare coverage for all Americans.
Mr Obama's team yesterday announced plans for four days of events to mark his inauguration, including a "day of service" on Martin Luther King Day, a day before he is sworn in.
Mr Obama told the Chicago Tribune that he intends to be sworn in as Barack Hussein Obama.
"I think the tradition is that they use all three names, and I will follow the tradition, not trying to make a statement one way or the other," Mr Obama told the Tribune. "I'll do what everybody else does," he said.