Pay to Play

A recent Gallup poll has shown that 26 percent of people surveyed believe that Obama's staff has engaged in something illegal with regards to the selection of Obama's replacement in the United States Senate. Thank you Fox News. This is just a sign of things to come over the next four or eight years. With all of the problems we now face with the economy, Fox News and the conservatives are looking for ties which simply do not exist.

Last week, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was charged by federal authorities with trying to sell the Senate seat to the highest bidder. Apparently, Blago has been under investigation for a few years now on unrelated matters, but the taped conversations picked up the Senate Seat Sale. Blago is either stupid or extremely arrogant. We believe his is a lot of both.

Obama knew that Blago was a problem and, he did his best to keep his distance from the ethically challenged governor. Even though almost every Democratic elected official for dog catcher up spoke at the Democratic convention, Blago was not given a spot on the stage. When Obama had his victory celebration in Chicago's Grant Park, Blago was not invited.

We don't doubt that there were conversations between the Obama people and Blago, but one of the taped conversations summed up the Obama position. Blago said the only thing Obama was willing to give him was "appreciation."

There also is no question that Chicago politics is and has been rotten for years, but Obama has continually steered a path away from the corruption, but he has been forced to deal with the elected officials in his home town over the years. This is not uncommon in our history. Let's not forget that both Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman rose above the corrupt political machines which helped them into power.

Let's get down to business. Let's look for solutions to the myriad of problems we now face after eight years of incompetence. The American people deserve the change for which they voted and not the constant obsession of Fox News and the right wingers to try to derail the Obama Express before it leaves the station.

Georgia Senate Run-off Today

The run-off for the seat of incumbent Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss (pictured to the right) takes place today in Georgia. OVC believes that Chambliss will prevail over a challenge from Democrat Jim Martin (pictured to the left) 53 percent to 47 percent.

The re-election of Chambliss will keep the Senate Democratic number at 58, with the Minnesota Senate race still embroiled in a recount. With the state Canvassing Board scheduled to meet in two weeks to finish the recount, and nearly 6,000 votes being challenged by the two campaigns, a Minneapolis Star Tribune tally late Monday showed that Coleman leads by 340 votes. Coleman had challenged 188 more votes than Franken.

Chambliss has brought in some heavy hitters, including former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Senator John McCain, and Governor Sarah Palin. In fact, Palin appeared at four rally for Chambliss yesterday. Martin was unable to get President-elect Obama to stump for him personally, but Obama did keep his field operation in tact to help Martin and recorded radio spots and robo-call messages. Martin also has the help of former Vice President Al Gore and former President Bill Clinton.

The Reaclclearpolitics average has Chambliss at 51.3 percent and Martin at 46 percent. The RCP average on the Presidential race was 7.6 percent. Obama won by 7.0 percent. The RCP average had Kay Hagan up by 4.3%, and she won by 8.5% in neighboring North Carolina. In Virginia, the final RCP average was Mark Warner up by 28.6 %, and he won by 31.2%. And in Oregon, RCP had Merkley up by 5.6%, and he won by 3.1%. The RCP average predicted the winner in all the decided Senate races. In the Minnesota race, RCP had incumbent Republican Norm Coleman defeating Democratic challenger Al Franken by 2.8%. Whoever wins that race will win by less than 0.1%.

We should know the results within an hour of the closing of the polls in Georgia at 7:00 pm EDT.