Obama tries to distance himself as Blagojevich fires accusations

Washington: President-elect Barack Obama did his best to distance himself from the spectacular public drama playing out in his home town on Tuesday, refusing to talk about the indictment of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich during his only public appearance outside his Chicago transition offices.

Federal prosecutors said that there is no evidence of involvement by the president-elect in allegations that Blagojevich attempted to sell Obama's vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder.

But the conspiracy allegedly dreamed up by Blagojevich was an unwelcome development in Obama's transition to power, threatening what he has avoided all his life - the taint of Chicago politics.

Obama was nurtured politically in the city, rising while scandal swirled around him, but remaining largely untouched as governors, lawmakers and lobbyists went to jail. For years, rivals - including Senator John McCain and the GOP this year - sought to tie him to Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a onetime friend and fundraiser convicted last year of fraud and bribery.

"This man has managed to dodge many a near-corruption bullet," said Richard Epstein, a University of Chicago law professor who has clashed with Obama in the past. "My hope is that he will be vindicated, as I think he will be."

By all accounts, Obama and Blagojevich are not close, though then-Senator Obama endorsed his fellow Democrat's re-election bid in 2006.

"I had no contact with the governor or his office, and so I was not aware of what was happening," Obama said, emerging from a meeting with former vice president Al Gore on Tuesday. "It is a sad day for Illinois. Beyond that, I don't think it's appropriate to comment."

In an interview last month, David Axelrod, a Chicago political consultant who served as Obama's campaign strategist, said Obama had spoken to the governor about the vacancy. But on Tuesday Axelrod issued a statement saying he had been mistaken."

"They did not then or at any time discuss the subject," he said.