The good news for Democrats? Giannoulias, who was welcomed into the race by a slapdash Fox News report accusing him of being corrupt, is right up there with Kirk in his favorable ratings. Kirk enjoys a 55-28 favorable rating, while Giannoulias is at 51-33. But by a 22-point margin, voters say they’re “less likely” to vote Democratic because of the Blagojevich scandals and the state budget.

The decision by Burris was based on his inability to raise campaign funds; campaign disclosures with the Federal Election Commission are expected to be filed next week … and he has reportedly only raised approximately $20,000

This prevents a scenario that some Illinois Democrats had worried about—an ugly, race-baiting March 2010 primary, where the badly under-funded Burris might have gone down swinging against Treasurer Alexi Giannoulis or businessman Chris Kennedy, alienating black voters that the eventual nominee will need to defeat the likely Republican nominee, Rep. Mark Kirk. And it frees the White House from the awkward decision to throw one of its reliable allies/rubber stamps in the Senate under the proverbial bus. (This was already happening behind the seats as the White House courted other candidates to run.)

Blagojevich — who was impeached in January for allegedly attempting to trade an appointment to President Obama’s vacated senate seat for financial favor — left office in late January, but made the rounds on the daytime television circuit for months defending his innocence.  Harris agreed to cooperate with the federal government as it builds its case against Blagojevich, who is facing 16 counts of fraud, extortion and racketeering, so we could be hearing a lot more from him in the near future.

“I am right on course,” Burris told Sweet, who reports that Burris is calling on Democratic Party leaders to support him in a 2010 run, while he has just $845 in campaign funds as of his last filing and no substantive fundraising network to support a future campaign.

I think Burris’ logistical problems could be a little more immediate.

Last week, while prepping  for my guest-blogging stint at TWI, I called all the  offices of all the senators who owe their job in one way or another to Obama’s victory — including Burris; Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s replacement, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.); Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), who is finishing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s term; and Vice President Joe Biden’s replacement, Sen. Edward Kaufman (D-Del.) — to add me to their press release lists, because I’d be blogging on 2010 Senate campaigns and all of them must battle to retain their seats.

So far only Gillibrand’s staff has been able to handle that request. Or at least they’re the only ones to have sent me any information.

A Burris staffer, who wouldn’t give me her name, went so far as to say they “don’t have a press release list” and they just post all information on the senator’s Website.

If you’re a serious member of Congress, sworn in four months ago, you should probably have a way to immediately get your message to the media. Press release lists allow your staff to brag about your accomplishments, put your stamp on issues and in general keep reporters aware of your existence.

Sweet’s column includes praise for Burris’ work ethic and comments from Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the ranking Republican on the Homeland Security committee, who told her that Burris ”comes to virtually every hearing we have in Homeland Security and he asks good questions.”

On the government side, Burris has an operation up and running in Washington and in regional offices in Illinois. In mid-April Burris moved from temporary quarters to more space in the Russell Senate Office Building. After a bumpy start — a chief of staff left a few weeks after Burris was sworn in last January — Burris has put together a seasoned staff who know their way around the Capitol.

Too bad his staff doesn’t know its way around a media list.

After two of President Obama’s prominent nominees withdrew from consideration because of tax concerns, Robert Gibbs took tough questions from the media at his daily press conference. And he didn’t enjoy a bit of it.

At first, he danced around the questions about the Tom Daschle scandal, even pulling a Blagojevich as he changed the subject to the recent peanut butter contamination. “I thought about it the other day when I was making a sandwich for my son,” he said, to the annoyance of the press.

But when the questions about Daschle’s vetting process continued, a visibly impatient Gibbs began shooting them down. “I’m not gonna spend a lot of time up here looking through the rear-view mirror,” he said on three separate occasions.

Finally, he began to take out his frustration on the press. When NBC’s Chuck Todd interrupted him to ask a follow-up question, Gibbs cut him off. “We need lights like the debates,” he said. “At least wait for mine to turn yellow.”

And a minute later: “You know what I’m gonna do from now on? I’m gonna have you write down your questions.”

He did provide a substantial piece of information, though, in confirming that Daschle had withdrawn from both of his prospective posts: secretary of health and human services and White House “health czar.” He also said of the Daschle debacle, “We all take responsibility. The president takes responsibility.”

All in all, not a fun day for Gibbs. Get this man a whiskey.

The Illinois state senators just went down the line in a roll-call vote, and one after another, they all said “yes” to the motion to give Blagojevich the boot. Inevitability became reality as the 40-vote threshold for removal was passed at 4:42 pm CST.

Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn will soon be sworn in as governor.

UPDATE: Now they’re voting on a motion to disqualify Blago from future public office. So far it’s unanimous in favor.

Will he resign? Will he quote a British poet? Will he channel his inner Clint Eastwood? Will he deliver a Mr. Smith-esque filibuster? Is that even allowed? Only time will tell…

It’s the TV event of the century, on … right … now!

GOP staffers investigating Holder’s background say that although he has downplayed his connections to [Illinois' Democratic Gov. Rod] Blagojevich, new information suggests Holder did legal work for Blagojevich on an investigation into the controversial award of a state casino gambling license by the Illinois Gaming Board.

We’ve been hearing about this since late December, and about a week ago Republicans on the committee obtained a letter from Holder to Blagojevich that was passed on to the conservative Powerline blog and partially disseminated.

The letter begins by stating, “As you know, Governor Blagojevich has appointed me to investigate issues relating to gaming in the Village of Rosemont, Illinois.” After informing the Gaming Board Chairman that “the first stage of the investigation will focus on reviewing documents,” Holder proceeds to request the production of ten categories of documents. [...]

This request for the production of documents relating to the circumstances possibly surrounding the issuance of the gaming license would seem to constitute “substantive work” on the Gaming Board investigation.

What’s the scandal? Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9. On Dec. 14, two weeks after being nominated, Holder submitted answers to the Senate’s questionnaire that didn’t mention his halting and unfinished work for the state of Illinois. The smoking gun is a letter showing that, well, his work was halting and unfinished.

More evidence that for all the hype, it looks like we’re heading to a Holder confirmation.

A review Blagojevich’s campaign contributions show that he received at $80,000 in contributions from firms with connections to state road building companies last summer and fall, including a $10,000 cash infusion the day the governor announced a series of toll road projects worth a total of $1.8 billion.

This series of toll-related projects was later mentioned in the federal criminal complaint filed against the governor in December. The complaint alleges that Blagojevich told an associate on Oct 6 that he was deliberately underplaying the announcement to see if a particular contractor would make good on a promise to raise $500,000 for Blago before the end of the year.

Tollroad News hints that Blagojevich, while not officially in charge of these toll projects, had an unusually close relationship with the corporation that manages Illinois’ toll roads. Other states with major public toll systems, like Pennsylvania and New Jersey, have stronger firewalls between the governor and the corporation to minimize untoward political pressure.

Blagojevich is an extreme example, but corruption at the state and local levels should not be discounted when the merits of the stimulus package are debated.

“The House’s action today was not a surprise; it was a foregone conclusion,” Blagojevich began calmly. “They’ve been talking about doing it for years.”

He went on to describe his accomplishments as governor, and the state House of Representatives’ efforts to hinder his health care reforms. Flanked by a motley crew of Illinoisians who he said “have benefited from some of these initiatives,” he ranted for minutes on end about breast cancer and kidney conditions.

But he made absolutely no mention of the core issue: his attempted sale of Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat, as alleged by federal prosecutors. Instead, he seemed to think that he had been impeached for his crusade to save lives.

Over and over, he described his health care programs and asked rhetorically, “Is that an impeachable offense?”

The only moments that did not seem thoroughly surreal came at the end of the press conference — but not the very end, when he once again quoted a British poet to prove some point that eluded me — as he maintained his innocence.

“Let me reassert to all of you once more that I am not guilty of any criminal wrongdoing,” he insisted. “I’m confident that at the end of the day I will be properly exonerated. In the meantime I have a job to do for the people.”

Go save lives, Blago! Godspeed!

UPDATE: Here’s the video: