Scandal in Illinois: Obama's do-over

At the same press conference where Obama officially named Tom Daschle his choice for head of Health and Human Services, he also gave a firmer response to the Blagojevich news, putting more distance between himself and his home-state governor, saying he had no contact with him and is confident any contact between his transition team and the governor was appropriate. The Los Angeles Times’ lead on Obama's presser yesterday. "It took three tries in as many days for President-elect Barack Obama to roll out a strategy for defusing the crisis over Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich's alleged attempt to put his old Senate seat up for sale." More: "Obama's evolving response was the first test of his team's capacity to cope with a fast-moving political scandal while staying true to his promise to run a transparent shop with a minimum of secrets." And then there's Rahm: "[T]op aides to the president-elect, including Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who has political ties to Blagojevich, have not been ... (link)