Below The Beltway

As Chris Cillizza notes, the arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Balgojevich has muddied the waters significantly:

As long as Blagojevich remains governor — and whether he will stay in office remains to be seen — he retains the power to appoint the next senator. But, if an appointment from Blagojevich was problematic before (due to the long-running investigation into his Administration on other corruption charges) it is entirely tainted now.

According to conversations with several Chicago political sharps, the thinking now is that if Blagojevich makes the appointment, the only possible pick is a caretaker with an unimpeachable record on ethics who will hold the seat for two years and then step aside in 2010.

It’s nearly impossible to imagine that anyone Blagojevich picks at this point would be able to run for a full term 2010 as they would immediately be labeled as the hand-picked choice of a scandal-tarred governor.

Given those realities, the new frontrunner for the appointment could well wind up being Secretary of State Jesse White who had been floated in the past as a safe — and inoffensive — pick. People like Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and former congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth may now have to turn their attention to the 2010 open seat as it seems increasingly unlikely that either of them would get (or want) an appointment from Blagojevich.

At this point, though, it seems that any appointment by Blagojevich would be irretrievably tainted. Had the Governor been arrested on general corruption charges, it would, perhaps, be a different story. The indictment, though, charges Blagojevich with essentially putting a seat in the United States Senate up for sale to the highest bidder, with his highest concern being not who would be best for Illinois, but who would be best for Rod Blagojevich and his wife. At this point, any appointment that the Governor makes would be politically tainted and, possibly, wouldn’t even be seated by the Senate.

That leaves two options, resignation so that Lt. Governor Pat Quinn can make the appointment, or impeachment. Since the Illinois Legislature is out of session until January, it would appear that the future of Obama’s Senate seat will depend on whether Blagojevich is arrogant enough to think he can continue being Governor of Illinois after the events of this morning.

Update: Illinois’ Senior Senator is calling for a special election to fill Obama’s seat:

(CNN) — Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin said Tuesday he wants a special election called to fill President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat.

At a press conference with reporters on Capitol Hill, Durbin said he wants the Illinois legislature to act quickly to pass a law setting a special election in light of news Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been charged with seeking financial gain over the appointment.

Currently Blagojevich has the sole authority to select Obama’s successor, and is still able to do so unless he resigns or is impeached from office.

“No appointment by this governor under these circumstances could produce a credible replacement,” Durbin said.

A special election would require an amendment to Illinois election laws, however, and the legislature is not currently in session.