It's taken a while, but the Barack Obama-Tony Rezko real estate deal is finally catching fire outside of Illinois.
Earlier today, National Public Radio's Morning Edition covered the controversy, and yesterday, Michelle Malkin mentioned it on her blog.
The audio piece is three and a half minutes long.
NPR was tough on Obama. Good for them. Their reporter, David Schaper, mentioned that the cash to make the down payment on Obama's South Side Chicago mansion came primarily from the advance he got from his book deal. As I've noted before, Obama received a large book-advance from his publisher while a senator-elect, not a senator--this allowed "St. Barack" to skirt senate ethics rules.
UPDATE November 17: As you'll notice in the comments, there's been a discussion between Archpundit and myself over Senate ethics rules on advances from publishers for books written by senators. You have to poke around the site a bit--I couldn't get the PDF file up at home, but it did come up at work, but page 98 of the ethics rules apparently allows senators to collect book advances--as long as such advances are in line with similar book releases. Okay, on that point, Archppundit is right, I'm wrong. However, I still find it odd that like Hillary Clinton--or maybe I don't find it odd--Obama signed his book deal before being sworn in as a senator.
Secondly, the House ethics rules forbid advances--but not royalties. Obviously, the Senate should follow the lower body's example.
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