# Who would take over Obama's Senate seat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 26, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853 "2008-07-26T16:10:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853/1 "2008-07-26T16:10:45Z")
Of course this thread assumes an Obama Presidential victory, but who would Governor Blagojevich appoint and why? Some speculation [here](http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/illinoisnews/story/74D5441C53390B7286257414000B95DF?OpenDocument) and [here](http://progressillinois.com/2008/06/27/speculation-on-obama-replacement) and [here.](http://www.chicagofreepress.com/node/2102) The possibilities seem to be divided into a few main motivations: the desire to keep the seat occupied by a Black American; the desire to move a regional thorn in the Governor’s side out of the way by helping him/her get kicked upstairs; the electability in the next Senate term; and lastly, apparently, how good of a Senator (s)he would be. Some of the many names mentioned in those links. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. A loyal Obama supporter who quickly repudiated his own father recently. Young. Probably electable in the future. Has the makings of a leader with the potential to get out of the long shadow cast by his more controversial father. That shadow though may be more of a debit than an advantage from here though. Jesse White and Emil Jones while Black are both too old. Bobby Rush or James Clayborne are young and Black. Local Blagojevich annoyances like Lisa Madigan and Dan Hynes - could be electable in the future and are both clearly ambitious to move up the ladder. And my favorite, Tammy Duckworth. She had narrowly lost her House run in 2006 and is now Director of Illinois Veteran’s Affairs in a very Republican district. She is an Iraq War veteran (double amputee and one arm injured as well) moderate Democrat. Very electable in the future. Great potential for leadership. Damn smart. I go with Duckworth first and Rep. Jackson second. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853/2 "2008-07-26T16:21:30Z")
I’m saddenned to see that being black is considered a pre-requisite. One of the good things about Obama’s candidacy is that race doesn’t matter any more. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853/3 "2008-07-26T16:35:21Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] I’m saddenned to see that being black is considered a pre-requisite. One of the good things about Obama’s candidacy is that race doesn’t matter any more. [/QUOTE] A prerequisite by the pundits anyway. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853/4 "2008-07-26T21:13:26Z")
Oh, also mentioned (and apparently quite desirous of the job) is [Jan Schakowsky](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Schakowsky) a member of the House with a solidly liberal bent. Jewish, lives in Evanston, represents some of the nearer North Chicago area suburbs and North lakefront. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853/5 "2008-07-26T21:24:22Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] I’m saddenned to see that being black is considered a pre-requisite. One of the good things about Obama’s candidacy is that race doesn’t matter any more. [/QUOTE] FTR, not all the candidates mentioned by the OP are black, so its apparently not a pre-requisite. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853/6 "2008-07-26T21:25:03Z")
[QUOTE=DSeid] Oh, also mentioned (and apparently quite desirous of the job) is [Jan Schakowsky](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Schakowsky) a member of the House with a solidly liberal bent. Jewish, lives in Evanston, represents some of the nearer North Chicago area suburbs and North lakefront. [/QUOTE] All the more reason why she wouldn’t be a good Senator for the State of Illinois, most of which is not “solidly liberal, Jewish, and Evanston/Lakefront.” In any case, watch for Blago to nominate himself. :rolleyes: After all, he’s got the “testicular virility” to be a Senator. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853/7 "2008-07-26T21:48:04Z")
Alan Keyes came \*so \*close the last time… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853/8 "2008-07-26T22:53:59Z")
Thr three names I’ve heard most are Jackson, Schakowsky, and Lisa Madigan. Of the three, I vote for Madigan (and I just may get the chance to.) ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853/9 "2008-07-26T23:10:00Z")
[Lisa Madigan.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Madigan) > [@](#): > > (born July 30, 1966 in Chicago) is the current and 41st Attorney General of the U.S. state of Illinois, and the first woman to hold the post … She is considered a potential candidate for Governor of Illinois or the United States Senate in the near future. If Senator Barack Obama is elected President in 2008, she is considered a possible candidate to be appointed to Obama’s seat. > > She was also cited by the New York Times to be among the seventeen most likely women to become the first female President of the United States of America should Hillary Clinton fail in achieving the office. She certainly does have the ambition and it gets her out of Blago’s hair. She’d destroy him in a Governor’s race if he runs again. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853/10 "2008-07-26T23:31:35Z")
[QUOTE=Carol Stream] In any case, watch for Blago to nominate himself. :rolleyes: After all, he’s got the “testicular virility” to be a Senator. :smack: [/QUOTE] Can Blago serve if his ethical troubles go from low-level simmering to actual indictment (and possibly conviction)? Could he be ejected for a criminal conviction? ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853/11 "2008-07-26T23:41:06Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Can Blago serve if his ethical troubles go from low-level simmering to actual indictment (and possibly conviction)? Could he be ejected for a criminal conviction? [/QUOTE] No cite, but I believe the Senate would act to remove him if he were convicted of a felony. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853/12 "2008-07-27T00:05:11Z")
[QUOTE=Carol Stream] All the more reason why she wouldn’t be a good Senator for the State of Illinois, most of which is not “solidly liberal, Jewish, and Evanston/Lakefront.” [/QUOTE] I don’t know what your criteria are for “solidly liberal,” but Illinois has voted Dem the last four presidential elections. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2008, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853/13 "2008-07-27T01:25:45Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Could he be ejected for a criminal conviction? [/QUOTE] He probably would be, but it would not be automatic, and (if the case example of Harrison Williams is applicable) he would probably resign before it came to that. As for who’d get the appointment, it would depend on whether it is being done under the “in it to win it” system (in which the appointee is the expected candidate in 2010, when the general and special elections for this seat would be held), or the “caretaker” system (someone to keep the seat warm, and let the nominee be decided in the 2010 primary) If the first is the case, I suspect it to be Hynes, who, after all, had run for the seat back in 2004. If the caretaker system is used, it could possibly be any of these candidates, or someone we haven’t considered. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853/14 "2008-07-27T01:35:21Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] I don’t know what your criteria are for “solidly liberal,” but Illinois has voted Dem the last four presidential elections. [/QUOTE] No, Chicago and the suburbs did. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2008, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853/15 "2008-07-27T02:26:45Z")
> [@](#): > > the desire to keep the seat occupied by a Black American If Barack Obama gets elected President in November, the symbolic importance of having a black Senator is going to take a sharp decline. ---
**Author:** ![MilTan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@MilTan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MilTan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2008, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853/16 "2008-07-27T02:50:06Z")
[QUOTE=Carol Stream] No, Chicago and the suburbs did. [/QUOTE] And Chicago and its suburbs will have their say in any Senatorial election, too. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2008, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853/17 "2008-07-27T02:52:50Z")
[QUOTE=MilTan] And Chicago and its suburbs will have their say in any Senatorial election, too. [/QUOTE] To be fair, s/he only said that a liberal, Jewish senator wouldn’t demographically represent the state outside of Chicago, not that said senator wouldn’t be elected. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2008, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853/18 "2008-07-27T03:38:45Z")
I have a big ole shameless politi-crush on Lisa Madigan but I’d rather see her as governor. She was on the radio a month or so back brushing aside rumors of her being in the Senate saying (in so many words) that Blagojevich’s obvious and powerful dislike of her wasn’t going to win her the prize of a Senate seat even if it did get rid of her. I _like_ the idea of Duckworth. I was hoping for her to win over that dip Roskam and had a rare moment of pleasure with Blagojevich when he appointed her to her current role. I’ve heard people bounce Rahm Emanuel’s name around but I wonder if he isn’t more useful where he is. Shame that that should keep him from a promotion to the Senate but such is politics. Safe district though – no real chance of it going Republican in the special election. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2008, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853/19 "2008-07-27T03:39:35Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] To be fair, s/he only said that a liberal, Jewish senator wouldn’t demographically represent the state outside of Chicago, not that said senator wouldn’t be elected. [/QUOTE] Hell, a liberal, Jewish senator wouldn’t represent even Chicago, much less the rest of the state. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2008, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853/20 "2008-07-27T03:53:47Z")
[QUOTE=Carol Stream] Hell, a liberal, Jewish senator wouldn’t represent even Chicago, much less the rest of the state. [/QUOTE] Electable? Maybe not, especially not Chicago area North Shore Jewish liberal. But Jewish (or Catholic or Muslim or Hindu or, given the district [B’hai](http://www.gfisk.com/gallery/architecture/bhai.jpg.html) :)) can represent Illinois quite well. Is she too liberal to represent the rest of Illinois? Maybe. But Hell isn’t she to replace the Senator with “the most liberal record”? The state overall did elect that Black Hyde Park liberal with a funny name just fine. If offered would Madigan take the Senate seat or take the guv post next election cycle (as many have her favored to do)? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-take-over-obamas-senate-seat/457853.md?page=2)