Is Senate Candidate 5, who appears to have been particularly willing to play ball with Blago, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr?
The unnamed candidate appears to be a man. From the charging documents:
Rod Blagojevich told Fundraiser A to tell Individual D that Rod Blagojevich had a problem with Senate Candidate 5 just promising to help Rod Blagojevich because Rod Blagojevich had a prior bad experience with Senate Candidate 5 not keeping his word. (our itals)
That rules out Valerie Jarrett — already assumed to be Candidate 1 — Tammy Duckworth, Lisa Madigan, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky.
There’s also this from the charges:
On December 4 … ROD BLAGOJEVICH noted he was going to meet with Senate Candidate 5 in the next few days.
Now look at this from the Chicago Tribune on December 6:
Jackson, the South Side and south suburban congressman, said Blagojevich’s office is looking to set up a meeting between him and the governor, who has the sole power of filling the vacancy.“Every indication, I believe, is in the next four or five days a meeting will take place,” Jackson said.
And indeed, Jackson and Blagojevich met yesterday.
And as of December 3, National Journal reported at the time, he had already met with Rep. Luis Gutierrez as well as some of the female candidates.
That’s a long way from proof that Candidate 5 is Jackson. But it’s at least suggestive.