Being Rod Blagojevich

The governor proceeded to antagonize the speaker of the state legislature, Mike Madigan (by, among other ways, distributing fliers that referred to at least one of Madigan's African-American supporters as "Madigan's Monkey," according to Illinois lawmakers; Blagojevich denied it). Blagojevich liked to call the legislature into special session just to ruin the lawmakers' holidays. (In one case, the governor kept the lawmakers in session while he went to a Blackhawks hockey game; legislators were furious and insisted that the governor reimburse the state nearly $6,000 for his travel expenses.) The governor's power of persuasion often amounted to bullying. State Sen. Jacobs recalled that when he refused to vote for a $7 billion tax increase on business, "the governor went ballistic on me like a 10-year-old child and balled up his fists and threatened to ruin me politically, threatened to ruin me personally and hovered over me with his fists clenched … He started having labor leaders call me and tell me if I didn't do what he wanted it would be bad." The bill lost 107 to 0. Blagojevich, in his never-never- land fashion, told reporters that the defeat was "basically an up." (Guerrero, the Blagojevich spokesman, declined to comment.)

In October of last year, the Blagojevich administration abruptly fired the wife of Speaker Madigan's chief of staff from her job as a child psychologist at the state's Department of Human Services. "He was so hell-bent on getting power," said State Rep. Jack Franks. "It's like the Mafia—you never touch the spouse. It was an unwritten rule and he broke that rule, too."

Lawmakers began talking about impeachment. But, according to the Feds' phone taps, Blagojevich, who complained that he "felt stuck" as governor, was al ready allegedly planning his escape to higher ground. He was hoping he could wangle a cabinet job in Washington. Sec retary of energy was best, Blagojevich ventures on the tape, because that's "the one that makes the most money." (The salary is the same as all cabinet posts, but the next job in the private sector would presumably be lucrative.) Or, Blagojevich grandly suggests, he might run for president in 2016. For now, says Guerrero, Blagojevich is "trying to bring normalcy back to the office. He signed a piece of legislation [Friday] about autism."

But providence works in strange and mysterious ways. In 2004 Blagojevich's former campaign consultant—David Axelrod—had become so disillusioned with Blagojevich that he privately gave himself an ultimatum: either find a reason to be inspired by politics once again, or quit the business. Axelrod found inspiration in an obscure state senator running for the U.S. Senate named Barack Obama.

With Jeneen Interlandi and Mark Hosenball

© 2008