Will Having the Name “Jesse Jackson” Associated with Blagojevich…
… further inflame those nutters trying to tie Obama to Blago, or will it give them a favorite lefty dynasty to devour and in so doing stave their hunger for a scandal larger than it is?
Because Jesse Jackson Jr. sure looks like he’s the Candidate 5 whom Blago claimed was trying to bribe him for a half million dollars (h/t Prof Foland and twolf).
Chicago Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., is the anonymous "Senate Candidate No. 5" whose emissaries Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich reportedly offered up to $1 million to name him to the U.S. Senate, federal law enforcement sources tell ABC News.
According to the FBI affidavit in the case, Blagojevich "stated he might be able to cut a deal with Senate Candidate 5 that provided Rod Blagojevich" with something "tangible up front."
Jackson said this morning he was contacted Tuesday by federal prosecutors in Chicago whom he said "asked me to come in and share with them my insights and thoughts about the selection process."
Jackson said, "I don’t know" when asked whether he was Candidate No. 5, but said he was told "I am not a target of this investigation."
Jackson said he agreed to talk with federal investigators "as quickly as possible" after he consulted with a lawyer.
Um, Jesse? After receiving that invitation to come and chat, you were really supposed to call them, not wait for them to call you…
One more point: assuming Jackson is Candidate 5, Blago badly implicated him. But thus far, that’s based on representations from Blago, who is clearly delirious. As always, Jackson (and Blago himself) are assumed to be innocent. Jackson denies that he offereda quid pro quo, and it’s not clear he had the half million to a million that Blago was asking for.