I just saw on MSNBC Lynn Sweet mention that Reid and Durbin will talk to Roland Burris on Wednesday, and offer him the Senate seat in return for a promise not to run again in 2010.
Here's a link to Sweet's column.
The thinking here is that this fiasco will not go away anytime soon and it's better just to seat the guy and get it over with.
Of course, Burris will not promise not to run in 2010. Roland Burris has a ginormous ego and believes he will win again in 2010. However, Sweet believes that Burris may make a hollow promise not to run again and that that may suffice.
All of this leaves the door open for a hotly contested Senate primary in 2010 at the same time the Governor's seat is open.
Though I think the Blago appointment of Burris is a sham, I don't see any way around it. The only option for Reid is to send it to the Rules Committee in the hopes that Blago gets removed within 90 days and new Governor Pat Quinn makes a different appointment. But that just raises the question anew: how does the Rules Committee justify turning down Burris and accepting the new appointee? Both were appointed by the Governor. Reid may prefer the second pick, but can he just pick and choose between two appointees?
And what's to say Blago will be out of office by then. I wouldn't put it past the Illinois legislature to botch the impeachment. Either way, a long and drawn-out struggle will only keep the attention of the country and the state on the controversy, and will leave the US Senate short one Democrat.
I think it makes sense for Reid to claim, publicly, that Burris promised not to run again. And then to let him be seated.
Having lived in Illinois for six years (between 2000 and 2006) I think it's very unlikely that a Republican can win a Senate seat there. Even Mark Kirk will face an uphill battle - as long as Democrats unite behind the primary winner. Republicans will have a better shot at winning the Governor's seat if only because of the argument that an all-Democratic Springfield might not look as appealing. Illinois has, after all, had many Republican Governors in recent years. But the Senate is a different story. Only Peter Fitzgerald's 1998 election counts as a GOP Senate win - and that was by just 2.9 points over the legally troubled Carol Mosely Braun. In fact, other than 1998, Republicans have not won a single US Senate seat from Illinois since Charles Percy in 1978 - and Percy was an old-school liberal Republican.
So I say, seat Burris. And then run a wide-open primary for both statewide seats.