Today, Rod Blagojevich, along with his brother Rob and a few of their shady colleagues were indicted on corruption charges.

Ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and five others were indicted Thursday on charges of scheming to auction off President Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat, pressuring a congressman for campaign money and lying to FBI agents. The 19-count indictment alleges Blagojevich and his aides discussed the possibility he could get a Cabinet post in the new president's administration, substantial fundraising assistance or a high-paying job in exchange for the Senate seat. [...]

The indictment also charged that Blagojevich was involved in a corrupt scheme to get a massive kickback in exchange for the refinancing of billions of dollars in state pension funds. It said he took part in a plan with convicted political fixer Antoin "Tony" Rezko and two others to make money while Blagojevich was governor, then split the profits after he left the office.

Blagojevich, 52, and others are accused of illegally pressuring an Illinois congressman for help in raising funds and lying when FBI agents came to question him.

TPM has more details from the DOJ press release (pdf), which document Blago's alleged schemes to financially benefit from his position as governor going back to 2002.

In the meantime, Sen. Roland Burris responded to the indictment:

Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) told The Hill that Blagojevich is the one who will have to "deal with it."

"It has nothing to do with me," Burris said. "The governor has his own problems and the law will take its course in reference to what he did. If he did anything wrong, the law will take care of the problem."

A surprisingly concise and cogent statement from Burris. Sigh, he used to be so entertaining.

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A miniscule, equivocating part of me is almost barely certain that a percentage of what Blackwater does in Iraq is noble and good. But lashing out at the US government's prosecution of the senseless killing of 17 innocent Iraqi civilians is certainly not. During the time of the killings, the legal environment Blackwater operated in was nebulous, resulting in a Rambo-like atmosphere that was ripe for civilian casualties.

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Sarah Palin's triumphal tour of New Hampshire?!?.  Huh?  Could someone please tell me what I'm missing here.  I know that the campaign is scrounging for votes like a junkie pawing away beneath the sofa cushions for a lint-covered M&M, but seriously, New Hampshire?

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One of the really unfortunate effects thus far with the Palin VP candidacy has been  what is happening in the Alaska senate race pitting democrat, Mark Begich, against Alaska's senator Ted Stevens.

Stevens, 84, an Alaska Republican, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington. He had been under federal investigation for more than a year on public corruption charges.

Stevens is charged with seven counts of making false statements for failing to disclose gifts and home renovations from VECO Corp., an influential Alaska oil services company, on his annual Senate financial disclosure form. The total value of the unreported benefits exceeded $250,000, according to the indictment.

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Alaskans are no strangers to corruption in their politicians, so it perhaps should come as no surprise that even after an ongoing investigation led the FBI to raid his home last year that Sen. Stevens continued to be seen as a viable candidate for re-election and indeed even refused to drop out of the race. Hell, even after his indictment earlier this week, Rasmussen Reports finds that:

...50% still regard Stevens favorably and don't want him to resign. Two-thirds (66%) view him as at least as ethical as most politicians.

Amazing. But what's different about 2008 and what Stevens likely didn't count on is that Mark Begich, popular Anchorage Mayor and Road To 60 candidate running against Stevens this cycle, has established himself as a viable candidate in his own right. As he told us in Austin, he hasn't been running on Stevens' corruption -- everyone else has been talking about it so why should he -- so Begich has focused on establishing his own bona fides, and it's clearly paid off. Again from Rasmussen, the post-indictment head-to-head match-up between Begich and Stevens shows that Alaskans are jumping from the Stevens sinking ship.

In other words, if Stevens is on the ballot in November, he's toast. But will he be? At the very least, these poll numbers mean Stevens is likely to receive a stern phone call from John Ensign (if he hasn't already) urging him to drop out, but what's odd is that the GOP's best bet is for Stevens to win the August 26th 6-way primary but then to drop out after that to allow the Alaska GOP to nominate a new candidate. Problem is, their best bet, Governor Sarah Palin, is under a cloud of corruption herself. But why would Stevens drop out now? He's continued to maintain his innocence. Today, in fact, Stevens pled not guilty and his lawyer even requested an expedited trial date so he could "clear his name" prior to the election. Yes, you do that, Senator.

Man, if it weren't so sad, it'd be funny. Ah, who am I kidding, it's hilarious.

Update [2008-7-31 15:4:8 by Todd Beeton]:This just in: U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan just set a tentative trial date of Sept. 24.

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