TV station reported Obama met with Blagojevich

Gov. Rod Blagojevich leaves his Chicago home this morning through the back alley (Courtesy Chicago Sun-Times)

Barack Obama told reporters yesterday he had no contact with Gov. Rod Blagojevich about filling his vacated Senate seat, but a Nov. 5 news report said the president-elect planned to discuss the subject in a meeting with the Illinois governor that day.

The report by KHQA-TV's Carol Sowers, posted on the website of the Quincy, Ill., station, said "one of Obama's first priorities" on the day after his election was a meeting with Blagojevich planned that afternoon to discuss the Senate seat.

A story by the Quincy station later that week indicted the meeting took place.

Reporters in Chicago yesterday asked Obama what contact he'd had with the governor's office about his replacement in the Senate after Blagojevich was arrested by federal authorities for a "political corruption crime spree" that included an effort to "sell" the Senate seat.

Obama replied, "I had no contact with the governor or his office and so we were not, I was not aware of what was happening."

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But ABC's Jake Tapper pointed out Obama senior adviser David Axelrod indicated otherwise in a Nov. 23 interview with Fox TV's Chicago affiliate.

"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 said, referring to potential Senate appointees.

Later yesterday, however, Axelrod issued a retraction.

"I was mistaken when I told an interviewer last month that the president-elect has spoken directly to Governor Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy," he said. "They did not then or at any time discuss the subject."

HotAir.com points out a Chicago Sun-Times story the day after the KHQA report quoted Blagojevich saying he had not spoken to Obama about the matter but would give "a great deal of weight" to the president-elect's recommendations.

Nevertheless, KHQA reported in a follow-up story Nov. 8 that "Obama met with Governor Rod Blagojevich earlier this week."

Yesterday, after speaking to reporters, Obama gave an interview to the Chicago Tribune in which he reiterated that he had not spoken to Blagojevich about the Senate seat. But he refused to answer whether any of his staff had discussed the subject with the governor, citing the restrictions of an ongoing investigation.

"I have not discussed the Senate seat with the governor at any time," Obama told the Chicago paper. "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. And beyond that, I was focused on the transition."

Asked if he was aware of any conversations between Blagojevich and any top aides, including Chief of Staff John Harris or Rahm Emanuel, Obama said: "John, let me stop you there because, as I said it out there, it's an ongoing investigation. I think it would be inappropriate for me to, you know, remark on the situation beyond the facts that I know. And that's the fact that I didn't discuss this issue with the governor at all."

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