Burris was generally regarded as an OK guy in Illinois. While he's from Centralia in central Illinois, one doesn't get as far as he has without being well-wired into the machine politics of the state.

If I recall, he's 73 years old, and some think that he's only a "placeholder" until 2010. Having said that, there are older Senators than him and there's no guarantee he wont run again. With Blago's backing, he may not even win the 2010 primary, but there's no guarantee of that either.

As I understand the Illinois Constitution and the Senate rules, it's not altogether certain that Burris' seating can be prevented. So I guess, given the long list of other important issues facing the Senate and the Congress, how much energy and time should be expended on a purely political issue such as trying to prevent Burris from becoming a U.S. Senator? If it were for six years, it would probably be worth the effort. But there will be another election in 2010 and the public gets another shot at electing rather than appointing a Senator then.

What is most distasteful about this situation is that the punk Governor of Illinois and his sharpy lawyer seem to have beaten both the system and the desires of an overwhelming majority of the residents of Illinois.

The bigger question seems to be: why didn't the Illinois General Assembly vote for a special election when they had the chance a couple of weeks ago? I'm certain the answer is politics.

Disgusting.