Kennedy says 9/11, Obama led her to public service

Caroline Kennedy emerged from weeks of near-silence Friday about her bid for a Senate seat by saying that after a lifetime of closely guarded privacy, she felt compelled to answer the call to service issued by her father a generation ago. She said two events shaped her decision to ask Gov. David Paterson 11 days ago to consider her for the position if Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is confirmed as secretary of state: the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and her work for Barack Obama's presidential campaign. In her first sit down interview since she emerged as a Senate hopeful, the 51-year-old daughter of President John F. Kennedy cited her father's legacy in explaining her decision to seek to serve alongside her uncle Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy. "Many people remember that spirit that President Kennedy summoned forth, she said. "Many people look to me as somebody who embodies that sense of possibility. I'm not saying that I am anything like him, I'm just saying there's a spirit that I think I've grown up with that is something that means a tremendous amount to me. She also credited her mother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, with giving her the courage to seek the job.

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AP Exclusive: Kennedy Talks Senate Seat

Obama's Blagojevich report to explain staff's role

Barack Obama's review of his staff's contacts with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich did not include records of conversations taped by federal prosecutors, a Democratic official said. Obama will release his report by Tuesday explaining his staff's discussions with Blagojevich and the governor's aides about appointing Obama's Senate successor, according to a Democratic official who requested anonymity because the report is not yet public. Incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel contacted Blagojevich's office about the appointment, according to a source close to the governor who requested anonymity because the person is not authorized to speak on the matter. Blagojevich believed Emanuel was advocating Obama friend Valerie Jarrett for the Senate seat so he would not have to compete with her for Obama's attention in the White House, the source said. It was not known whether Emanuel, a Chicago-area congressman, spoke to Blagojevich, his chief of staff, or both, or why the governor believed Emanuel was pushing Jarrett for the job, the source said.

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Rahm Talked MANY TIMES w/Blago on Senate Seat (read ChiTrib, *right* under "more info")

Future Palin In-Law Is Arrested

State troopers have arrested the mother of Bristol Palin’s boyfriend on drug charges. The woman, Sherry L. Johnston, was arrested after troopers served a search warrant on a Wasilla home. Ms. Johnston, 42, has been charged with six felony drug counts. A trooper spokeswoman said in a news release that the charges were in connection to the prescription painkiller OxyContin. Ms. Johnston is the mother of Levi Johnston, 18. Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president, announced in September that her daughter Bristol, 18, was pregnant and that Mr. Johnston was the father. She is due to give birth this weekend.

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Sarah Palin Drama: Daughter's Future Mother-in-Law Arrested

Blagojevich Denies Any Criminal Wrongdoing

Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois, who has been accused of scheming to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat, said on Friday that he would not resign and insisted that he had done nothing wrong, saying defiantly, I will fight, I will fight, I will fight. In his first statement since he was arrested on federal charges of conspiracy and soliciting bribes, Mr. Blagojevich was alternately emotional and combative, his voice breaking as he told reporters that he would be vindicated, and asked Illinois residents to withhold their judgment. I intend to stay on the job and I will fight this thing every step of the way, he said in an appearance at the James R. Thompson Center in downtown Chicago. I will fight, I will fight, I will fight, till I take my very last breath. I have done nothing wrong. Within minutes of his appearance, state Republicans reiterated their calls for a special election to determine Mr. Obama’s replacement in the Senate, and the state’s lieutenant governor, Pat Quinn, issued a statement chastising Mr. Blagojevich.

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Blagojevich: I am not guilty

Ill. Gov. Blagojevich pledges to fight, won't quit

A combative Gov. Rod Blagojevich served notice Friday that he has no intention of quitting over his corruption arrest, declaring: "I will fight. I will fight. I will fight until I take my last breath. I have done nothing wrong. The forceful three-minute speech marked the first time the former amateur boxer directly addressed the allegations since his arrest 10 days earlier. With it, he made it clear that removing him could be uglier and more drawn-out than anyone imagined just a week ago, when the governor's career appeared to be in its final hours and nearly the entire political establishment seemed to be holding a death watch. I'm not going to quit a job the people hired me to do because of false accusations and a political lynch mob, a composed and deliberate-sounding Blagojevich said at his downtown Chicago office building. He took no questions from reporters and immediately left the room after wishing his listeners, Merry Christmas, happy holidays. The 52 year old Democrat is charged with scheming to sell President elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat for big campaign contributions or a lucrative job for himself. Prosecutors built their case on Blagojevich's wiretapped conversations.

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Blagojevich Speaks Out, Pledges to Fight

Ill. Court Nixes Motion to Declare Blagojevich Unfit

Illinois’ top court today rejected the state attorney general’s motion to have Rod Blagojevich declared unfit to be governor due to corruption charges against him, the Chicago Tribune reports, even as his lawyer charged that members of a state House committee looking into impeachment wouldn’t give Blagojevich a fair shake. Attorney Ed Genson also requested a special prosecutor, and that taxpayer money pay for Blagojevich's defense. Genson asked that three legislators be removed from the panel, and for it to define an impeachable offense before the proceedings began, as the state constitution does not offer specifics. Rep. Barbara Currie turned down all of Genson’s requests, saying that the panel was not bound by usual jurisprudence We’re not a court of law. We’re not quite a grand jury, she said. We’re not bound by specific rules of evidence.

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Illinois AG on Blagojevich: 'UNFIT'

Obama Is Time's Person of the Year

Barack Obama hit the American scene like a thunderclap, upended our politics, and shattered decades of conventional wisdom on his way to the White House, David Von Drehle writes, and those things alone might make him Time’s person of the year. But already Obama has moved into a new phase, from flashy politician to Mr. Fix It, a man who gets things done. Obama rattles off an ambitious set of goals for his first two years, confident he can hit them all. I’ve got a pretty healthy ego, he says and amazingly, polls show the public believes he can do it, too. For having the confidence to sketch that kind of future in this gloomy hour, Von Drehle writes, Barack Obama is Time’s Person of the Year.

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Barack Obama named TIME person of the year