GOP gets to use Blagojevich playbook against him

[January 20, 2009]  CHICAGO (AP) -- Both times Rod Blagojevich was elected governor, it was as if he'd run against the same opponent: the legacy of a corrupt former governor who was the disgraced face of the Republican Party.

Blagojevich, a Democrat who successfully made now-imprisoned former Gov. George Ryan into a bogeyman, will likely be that exact poster boy in next year's governor's race.

Republicans can use his Dec. 9 arrest on corruption charges -- including allegedly scheming to sell President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat -- and his subsequent impeachment to try to retake the state's top office and claim a U.S. Senate seat.

"It's only fair that we get our shot after they used George Ryan for two elections. I wouldn't say it's a gift, maybe it's a payback," said former Republican Gov. Jim Edgar.

National Republicans also are looking to benefit from Blagojevich's troubles. They've made winning Obama's old seat a top priority since Blagojevich appointed Roland Burris to fill it despite pleas from lawmakers not to do so.

"This entire situation has been a national embarrassment that could have been avoided," Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who leads election efforts for Senate Republicans, has said.

The Senate grudgingly accepted Burris' appointment after initially opposing it and challenging his paperwork from Blagojevich.

If Burris is the Democratic candidate in the 2010 race, Republicans have a "golden opportunity" to win the seat because Burris is easily tied to Blagojevich, said Kenneth Janda, professor emeritus of political science at Northwestern University.

But the controversy hardly makes winning the governor's mansion a shoo-in for the GOP, Janda said.

Despite the governor's legal troubles, Republicans still have work to do to triumph in a state trending Democratic and without a bench of well-known contenders.

Some of the high-profile Democrats considered likely contenders for Blagojevich's job in 2010 -- including Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Comptroller Dan Hynes and Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias -- have gone out of their way to distance themselves from Blagojevich, whose administration has been under federal investigation for years.

Madigan even tried to have Blagojevich removed from office by the state Supreme Court by claiming he was unfit. Blagojevich has denied wrongdoing.

Such bipartisan disgust diffuses some of the Blagojevich fallout Republicans are counting on, Janda said.

"It's another arrow in their quiver. But is it an atomic bomb arrow? No, it isn't," he said.

The GOP already is slinging Blagojevich's troubles at Democrats, and the Illinois Republican Party has a special Web site to help voters keep track of their connections to the troubled governor. The site highlights Democrats' past support of Blagojevich, including Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, House Speaker Michael Madigan and incoming state Senate President John Cullerton.

"Blagojevich Democrats are all part of the same tainted web in Illinois," the Web site proclaims, a not-so-subtle clue to the Republican election strategy.

But if Republicans are going to use Blagojevich's troubles to reinvigorate a party that currently holds no statewide office, they must pick good candidates.

To Edgar, that means not choosing anyone who is too far to the political right because Illinois has traditionally favored more moderate Republicans.

Edgar said U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, who was recently re-elected to a seat in Chicago's northern suburbs, would be one of the obvious choices to run for the Senate seat that now belongs to the 71-year-old Burris. There's not yet an obvious Republican front-runner for governor, Edgar said, but he isn't worried.

"Whoever heard of Rod Blagojevich two years before the election when he got elected," Edgar said.

Illinois GOP chairman Andy McKenna said he expects people will start raising their hands later this spring to run for statewide offices.

Illinois Senate Minority leader Christine Radogno said her counterpart in the Illinois House, Republican leader Tom Cross, was a strong possibility and Republican state Sen. Bill Brady has worked hard and wanted to be governor. Republicans in the state's congressional delegation are also possible contenders for these statewide offices, she said.

To be successful, Republicans will have to win over swing voters in suburban Chicago, Radogno said.

"If this is not a wake-up call, I think we are beyond hope," Radogno said.

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On the Net:

GOP site: http://www.friendsofblago.com/

[Associated Press; By DEANNA BELLANDI]

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