Round up the usual suspects

UPDATE: Jesse Jr. news conference.***Confirmation. The Feds plan to interview Jesse Jr. ABC:

Blagojevich met with Jackson Monday afternoon and said he was close to making a decision about whom he would appoint.

The governor was arrested by the FBI early Tuesday morning in order to "stop a crime spree," according to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

Jackson said Tuesday that he met with Blagojevich Monday "for the first time in years" and voiced his desire to fill Obama's empty Senate seat. He said he was "shocked" by Blagojevich's arrest, adding that "if these allegations are proved true, I am outraged by the appalling, pay-to-play schemes hatched at the highest levels of our state government."

Jackson is only one of a number of Illinois political figures whom the FBI is expected to interview in Chicago and Washington. But fellow Illinois Democratic Reps. Luis Gutierrez, Jan Schakowsky and Danny Davis, as well as Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, all say they have not been contacted by the FBI or prosecutors in connection to the Blagojevich investigation.

Madigan has confirmed, however, that she is Senate Candidate #2 in the affidavit, but she denied having any conversations with Governor Blagojevich about the Senate seat.

Shocked, shocked. Round up the usual suspects. More memories:

Jesse Jackson, Jr. Personal Friend Of Obama And Was National Co-Chair Of Obama’s Presidential Campaign. “Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) is a personal friend -- one of his sisters sang at Barack and Michelle’s wedding-- a political ally -- they come out of the complex political mix of Chicago’s South Side -- and he’s a national co-chair of the presidential campaign.” (Lynn Sweet, “Chicagoans To Tell Obama’s Story At Democratic Convention,” Chicago Sun-Times, 8/19/08)

Jesse Jackson, Jr. Also Endorsed Obama’s 2004 Senate Campaign. “Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Barack Obama picks up the endorsement today of Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), whose opposition to the Iraq war and liberal politics mirrors his own, bringing to his camp a formidable fund-raiser. … Other liberals in the state’s congressional delegation who have endorsed Obama are Rep. Lane Evans (D-Ill.), who helps Obama in western Illinois, and, Smith said, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.).” (Lynn Sweet, “Schakowsky Backs Obama For U.S. Senate,” Chicago Sun-Times, 12/16/03)

Recall Jesse Jr. reprimanded his dad for suggesting he wanted to take a whack at Barack. Wonder how they both feel now.