From The Times
December 19, 2008

Seat for sale scandal causes wider worries over American corruption

Tom Baldwin in Washington

The scandal washing around Rod Blagojevich, the Illinois Governor, has sent ripples of unease through an American political establishment that has long traded favours or appointments for campaign donations.

Some suspect that the only difference between the traditional deal-making that lubricates Washington and the effort to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat was that the Governor got caught.

Mr Blagojevich's lawyer, Ed Genson, said yesterday that the case was “much ado about nothingâ€