Emanuel to resign seat Friday

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro and Carrie Dann President-elect Obama 's incoming chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel , will officially resign his congressional seat on Friday. He alerted constituents in Illinois' fifth congressional district in Chicago by automated message and wrote a letter to embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich . (The full text of both after the jump.) For a resigned Senate seat, like Obama's, in Illinois, the governor would appoint a successor. That is not the case for a congressional seat. For a U.S. House seat, there would be a special election. The governor would, however, be responsible for setting a date for that special election within five days of when the representative steps down. It certainly complicates matters with Blagojevich the subject of state legislative and federal investigations over the governor allegedly trying to sell Obama's Senate seat. ...( read more ) (link)