Meanwhile on the Blagojevich front...

Once Rod Blagojevich was sworn-in as governor in 2003, the first Democrat in that position in 26 years, a "pay-to-pay scheme on steroids," according to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, took flight.

Sitting in the captain's chair was Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who was indicted on various corruption charges in 2006. And he had a lot of co-pilots were in the cabin, some of whom were indicted later.

But here's the problem Barack Obama faces with Rezko.

From ABC 7 Chicago:

The Rezko relationship did not come up on the campaign trail again as of Wednesday afternoon.

But Rezko has a lot of tentacles, the most prominent of which leads to Governor Blagojevich.

More from the same ABC 7 story:

Rezko, who is scheduled to go on trial in late February on federal corruption charges, was also one of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's top fundraisers and advisors. But Blagojevich is refusing to answer questions Wednesday about whether his relationship with Rezko is one reason he had to spend nearly $1 million on private legal fees last year--and two million dollars in the past three years.

That's Obama's problem--with or with out him, Rezko is a newsmaker.

As the date of Rezko trial approaches, there will be more and more stories published involving involving the longtime political insider. Rezko's trial is expected to last three months, and it probably won't be just local media covering the proceedings. However, by the time the Rezko trial is over Obama will have won--or lost--the race for Democratic nomination.

Last month, Blagojevich's other top fundraiser, Christopher G. Kelly, was indicted on tax fraud charges.

Which raises problems for Blagojevich, as Dan Curry of Reverse Spin explained at the time:

Now that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has his left flank fully in place (My note, the right flank is Tony Rezko) he can proceed upon his prey, Governor Rod Blagojevich. Does anybody seriously doubt how this is going to turn out?

As I've noted before, if Obama is the Democratic nominee in the general election, a Blagojevich indictment--even though the senator has nothing to do with the governor's machinations--is not an "October Surprise" Candidate Obama would welcome this fall.

Fair or not, I can envision a negative ad against Obama with the tagline--"He's just another Chicago politician."

Oh, as I suggested here, Obama did answer, not through a surrogate, some Tony Rezko queries on Good Morning America.

But the one question that needs to be asked of the senator is this: Was the Rezko land deal a loan?

Technorati tags: Obama politics Barack Obama Illinois 2008 Election Democrats Chicago Tony Rezko corruption real estate law legal ABC News Blagojevich Patrick Fitzgerald