SPARE THE ROD?

Posted at 8:24 a.m. ET

Jake Tapper, at ABC News, probes the relationship between President-elect Obama and the illustrious governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich. This is murky, but so far there's no smoking gun:

Asked what contact he'd had with the governor's office about his replacement in the Senate, President-elect Obama today said "I had no contact with the governor or his office and so we were not, I was not aware of what was happening."

But on November 23, 2008, his senior adviser David Axelrod appeared on Fox News Chicago and said something quite different.

While insisting that the President-elect had not expressed a favorite to replace him, and his inclination was to avoid being a "kingmaker," Axelrod said, "I know he's talked to the governor and there are a whole range of names many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them."

(UPDATE: An Obama Transition Team aide says that Axelrod misspoke on Fox News Chicago.)

(UPDATE #2: Axelrod this evening issued a statement saying. "I was mistaken when I told an interviewer last month that the President-elect has spoken directly to Governor Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy. They did not then or at any time discuss the subject.")

Those are updates from hell.  They're troubling.  Note that Axelrod said initially, my emphasis, "I know he's talked to the governor..."

David Axelrod is one of the most careful operators in politics.  How did he know?  How convincing is his denial now?

...there are indications that Mr. Obama and his team refused to go along with the "pay to play" way Blagojevich is accused of operating, offering only "gratitude" if the governor appointed his friend Valerie Jarrett to take his U.S. Senate seat, much to the governor's chagrin.

But there remain questions about how Blagojevich knew that Mr. Obama was not willing to give him anything in exchange for the Senate seat -- with whom was Blagojevich speaking? Did that person report the governor to the authorities?

Good questions, good questions.  During the campaign Tapper was one of the straight shooters.  He remains straight.

And, it should be pointed out, Mr. Obama has a relationship with Mr. Blagojevich, having not only endorsed Blagojevich in 2002 and 2006, but having served as a top adviser to the Illinois governor in his first 2002 run for the state house.

And he never suspected anything about Rod?

On the Chicago TV show "Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz" on June 27, 2002, state Sen. Obama said, "Right now, my main focus is to make sure that we elect Rod Blagojevich as Governor, we..."

"You working hard for Rod?" interrupted Berkowitz.

"You betcha," said Obama.

"Hot Rod?" asked the host.

"That's exactly right," Obama said.

Not words to live by.

In the Summer of 2006, then-U.S. Sen. Obama backed Blagojevich even though there were serious questions at the time about Blago's hiring practices.

At the time, numerous state agencies had had records subpoenaed, with U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald telling authorities he was looking into "very serious allegations of endemic hiring fraud" with a "number of credible witnesses."

There have always been questions about whether Obama's ambitions blinded him to the nature of some of his connections.  These questions will now re-surface.  During the campaign, Obama partisans ridiculed as "guilt by association" any mention of some shady types in Obama's past.  It's hard to make that charge when the governor of the state is involved.  Obama's connections with Hot Rod seem to go back quite some time, were willful, and occurred even after ethical concerns about the governor made it into the public print.

Stand by.  The issue is how deeply the press is willing to probe. 

December 10, 2008.