From Katie Granju’s comments and Instapundit comes a link to this Nov. 5 news story, reporting that “[Obama]’s meeting with Governor Rod Blagojevich this afternoon in Chicago to discuss” his Senate replacement.
If Obama is telling the truth, then this Nov. 5 story is wrong:
Who will fill Obama’s senate seat?: Ill. governor meeting with Obama today
By Carol Sowers
Wednesday, November 05, 2008 at 10:39 a.m.
CHICAGO, ILL. — Now that Barack Obama will be moving to the White House, his seat in the U.S. Senate representing Illinois will have to be filled.
That’s one of Obama’s first priorities today.
He’s meeting with Governor Rod Blagojevich this afternoon in Chicago to discuss it.
Illinois law states that the governor chooses that replacement. . . .
It’s likely the governor will make his decision quickly so the new senator will get some seniority before newly-elected senators take office in January.
Part of the timing depends on when Obama officially vacates his senate seat.
UPDATE: In a quick Westlaw review of news stories, I can’t find any support for the Nov. 5 news story quoted above. Indeed, on Nov. 5 Blagojevich held a news conference at which he said that he had not yet talked with Obama. Here is the AP version:
Blagojevich said some candidates reached out to him before the election and his administration would seek out others who could be a good choice. He also wants Obama’s input.
“That would have obviously a great deal of weight on the decision that I would make,” Blagojevich said.
He said he has not yet spoken to Obama, whose timeline for resigning his Senate seat was unclear Wednesday.
If Blagojevich were meeting with Obama a few hours after his news conference on Nov. 5, it would have been odd not to mention it, or at least hint in that direction.
My tentative conclusion is the same as I expressed yesterday (and hinted above): Obama is telling the truth when he says that he has not talked to Blagojevich about his Senate seat, but he is not ruling out staff discussions.
2d UPDATE: Ed Morrissey has more.
3d UPDATE: TV station KHQA has issued this release:
KHQA TV wishes to offer clarification regarding a story that appeared last month on our website ConnectTristates.com. The story, which discussed the appointment of a replacement for President Elect Obama in the U.S. Senate, became the subject of much discussion on talk radio and on blog sites Wednesday.
The story housed in our website archive was on the morning of November 5, 2008. It suggested that a meeting was scheduled later that day between President Elect Obama and Illinois Governor Blagojevich. KHQA has no knowledge that any meeting ever took place. Governor Blagojevich did appear at a news conference in Chicago on that date.
This statement doesn’t say why they thought there would be a meeting or whether a meeting was scheduled for that day.