Word: campaigning
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...complaint produced no evidence that Obama or his aides have done anything wrong. Blagojevich was, in fact, recorded complaining that Obama's people were "not willing to give me anything except appreciation." Obama himself maintains that he never talked to Blagojevich about the Senate seat, and during the recent campaign, the two men kept their distance from each other...
...President-elect's political universe overlaps uncomfortably with the Illinois governor's seamy world of swagger, cussing and kickbacks. Obama's new chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, once boasted that he and Obama had worked closely with Blagojevich on his 2002 election, which was billed as a reformist campaign - a claim that Obama aides deny and Emanuel has since retracted as "wrong." As recently as 2006, Obama told a reporter he had concerns about allegations of corruption involving state Democrats, though he added that he would be "happy" to work to support the governor's re-election...
...different incident, Blagojevich spoke of an emissary from a potential Senate appointee, named by the feds as "Senate Candidate 5" but who has since been identified as Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. The emissary, according to the governor, offered to arrange as much as $1.5 million in future campaign contributions in exchange for the Senate seat. For Blagojevich, the price was right, but the timing was wrong, say prosecutors. Blagojevich didn't want to wait until the next election for the money to arrive. He wanted to see a down payment right away. "Some of this stuff has gotta start happening...
...down highway contractors, job seekers and health-care administrators. He talked of holding up bill-signings in exchange for favors - and seemed not to understand when his targets balked at his demands. When the CEO of Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital failed to return phone calls regarding a campaign contribution, Blagojevich began investigating ways to deny the hospital funding. "What do we do with this guy?" he mused...
...mere fact that the story is making the rounds reflects the very real friction between NASA and the transition team - which has sparked a groundswell of support among space agency employees to keep the boss. Within NASA, there is a real concern that while the Obama campaign rode the call for change to a thumping victory in November, change is precisely what the space agency does not need. (See photos of different countries' space programs here...