Who will name Obama's replacement?

Holy crap. I can't even believe this is coming down like this. Ya know, Elliot Spitzer, the former NY Gov, was doing his level best to see laws passed in NY and elsewhere that spoke to predatory loans. Bush stopped him. Then he got busted over the hooker deal.

Blagojevich cuts the chord with Bank of America and voila! He is arrested in a way that defies normal protocol and suddenly this 2 year investigation of all the rotten crap he's up to must be dealt with today.

Don Siegelman, the Gov. of Alabama was treated quite out of the ordinary during his ordeal. There are still many unanswered questions surrounding his indictment and incarceration.

Now...I'm not saying I don't favor taking out those abusing their authority and committing crimes. I just think the timing is suspect and political payback always comes quicker than legitimate justice.

It will be interesting to see what unfolds in this latest debacle.

@jenni: Does special election mean that the politician who names Obama's replacement is elected by a special election. Or does it mean that Obama's replacement is elected by a special election?

Special elections cost a fortune. I'm picking the LT Gov. as the decision maker. Isn't that the way state constitutions are set up? Normally they are worded in such a way that if the Gov. cannot fulfill his duties then the LT takes over.

@onedave - The special election is that the successor is named by a special election. If there was a special election for a new Governor who then got to name the new Senator that would settle as 'other'.

@conspiracy

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NzhiYmFlMDZiNzkxYmZlMThmMTZjNDJlYzYwM2ZhNjY=

That is a good summary of why this timing makes sense.

To be honest, your jump to call foul here is amazing. This guy is exactly what is wrong with our country right now. I totally support this timing and everything was explained in the press conference yesterday afternoon.

His arrest defies normal protocol? How so? The FBI called him early in the morning and allowed him to quietly come with them without even waking his family. He was only arrested after it the Tribune printed the story that made Blagojevich aware of the wiretaps. There is nothing out of the ordinary here.

Governor Blagojevich congratulates president elect Obama and starts selection process for replacement.

http://www.illinois.gov/govgazette/pdfs/Gazetteedition_2008Nov.pdf

Check out the photographs in this article of the Governor's Gazette!

I can't believe Rod's going to appoint someone.

I'm not in agreement with this ruling.

The question is WHO will name....not will the person named actually be given the seat sometime down the road.

An entirely NEW question can come out of that. This is a bad call.

Sure is!!!
This is not right....certainly very un-american!!! Bago named Obama's replacement..period end of discussion. When this question was written the author of it damn well knew there may be some fight if Blago names the replacement. It was not in the question then or clarified, it should not be added.
That is like saying...oh wait Palin grandkid is a boy its been born people magazine announced the name...but wait lets make sure that is what the baptism certificate says....

And this ones settlement details said "CAN SETTLE ON ANNOUNCEMENT" so guess what....its been announced

The reasoning for the decision is this. The question asks about the replacement for Obama, so if the person that the Gov selected is seated by the senate, then he will become the replacement. But if he is not, and there seems to be some strong agreement that he won't be, then the person the Gov selected is NOT the replacement. This market is asking about the replacement, who that person is.

Oh just a little mention then...
When the Illionois Atty General asked for a TRO to prevent Blago from naming a replacment for Obama, the TRO was not granted nor was the motion granted to remove all of Blago's duties as governor except the silly stuff like baptising bridges.
Neither of thesr things were granted by the judge.
Therefore mr blago has every right to name the replacemnt.. just as the gove of ny has the right to name hillary's
now the question is...are you going to actually hold all the predictions for all the replacements...to include bidens,,etc etc until senate confirmation?
or just arbitrarilly (sp) ? Cause everything that has settled to date has not been on senate confirmation..so why start now?

Settlement details: Can settle on announcement, should suspend on strong rumor.

Who will name Obama's replacement?
Settlement details: Can settle on announcement, should suspend on strong rumor.

You're waaaay off base on this one, destry.

This market is being kept open until there is a clear indication that the person will actually replace Obama. If the person announced by the Governor is not certified or seated by the Senate then the person who replaces Obama will still be open.
It is different from the cabinet appointments because there have been NO reports of any of those people not being appointed. If someone controversial would have been nominated then we might have left it open to that. However in this case, the Majority leader of the Senate, as well as the President Elect, have stated that the person selected by the Governor should not be seated, there seems to be clear evidence that this person will NOT be Obama's replacement and therefore the Governor would not be the correct option for settling this market.

I find it marvelous how they can move the goal posts to suit there selves after 62,414 predictions

why doesn't destry do his home work? he is good on finding reasons to void

forgot the reason sorry
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7805412.stm just 4hrs old

I live in IL guys, Destry is right there is 0% chance that this guy will be made a senator becuase of the governor picking him. I listened to the press conference on the radio today and the guy the governor picked sounded downright startled to hear that he had contributed 14k dollars to the governors campaign fund! lol.

Just read the comments above more fully, you guys are nuts if you think he actually just named the replacement. he named who he picks, making that a reality is such an incredible long shot theres no way to justify suspending this question.

Since WHEN, does the President-Elect have the power or authority to reject a replacement for the State of Illinois -- even if he happens to be from that state? I was unaware that a President (or President-Elect) has such a power...

Is there a constitutional lawyer in the house?

And while we are at it: perhaps do we have a lawyer who is legally trained, to explain this phrase to us: "Can settle on announcement, should suspend on strong rumor". Thanks...

i don't got a dog in this fight, just some friendly advice to all who have money invovled. your money could be tied up for a long time. the question is still open so you might wanna consider cashing in. if the guy blago picked gets denied by the US senate it could end up in the supreme court. this might take longer to settle than the coleman vs franklin senate race.

randburg, obama is not denying the appointment. however, the secretary of state is refusing to donfirm the appointment and the other state senators said before Blago's press conference they WOULD NOT seat anyone chosen by the governor.

Therefore the question can't suspend or settle yet, becuase the most liekly result is that no one is named to the position yet. As deiseldog said, theres a long way to go still.

This is an obvious case of miscommunication. I don't even have money tied up so I'll just give my opinion without feeling any beneficial influence.

The question of who will name the replacement has two time frames. One questions which person or method with the appropriate power will offer the replacement to the seat. In this respect, of course it would settle as Blagojevich, but why would this kind of question ever be created? That's the only person who ever provides a replacement under normal circumstances. But why then was this question created? It wasn't created to reemphasize the fact that it is the sitting Governor that decides such a thing. The questions intent is instead to find out how the official replacement was named.

This is the correct perspective on the matter: Once a replacement is made official, who was it that named him/her? This is the obvious question at hand. Howe will the replacement fill the seat? Will it be by Blagojevich's hand or by some other way? And because this case has an obvious chance of the offered replacement being denied, suspension and settlement should only be made once a resolution is made.

For this question to ask whether Blagojevich will name a replacement, it should do just that. Ask: "Will Blagojevich use his powers to offer a replacement?" That is a yes/no question and one that is more boring than this one (and also already decided).

Sorry to have been the source of a contentious question here. I will just say briefly that I fully intended the question as roba states above. Who will name the person who replaces Obama. The "can settle on announcement" clause is not to say that we DO settle on announcement, but that we can. For instance, we can settle the Cabinet questions on announcement b/c there's no great reason to think reality will differ from intent. Here, that is not so true.

@destry you say there will be no "contestations" regarding a cabinet appointment? I sure hope u havent settled hillary clinton as SOS..cause she has not even resigned her senate seat yet; she is not stupid she knows full well there are going to be some hot questions her way.

I'll tell you what....I'm choosing my questions FAR more carefully now and actually may just wind up betting only on what I create as a result of what I've learned with this little disaster.

ask destry he is a a lawyer i am told, oops he set the classification thats a dead end sorry

WTG jenni you trouble maker.

ironman might have more detailed info. i heard the guy who got appointed went to the SC of ill to ask them to force the sec of state to certify him. now the "race card" has been played by mr rush. theres no precedent in the US supreme court to give guidance on how they will rule if it makes it that far.

as a rightwinger all i can say is i hope blago stays in office for another year or longer. :O)

d-dog...the way the wheels of justice move you might just get your wish.

perhaps if my people would drink heavier, take up cocaine and start chasing pages and cruising guys in restrooms we'd get things done a little faster.

@All happy new year INC iron man where did he pop up from and a special happy and prosperous new hb$ to all my friends on here.
off i go waving the dove of piece

jenni> "...there's no great reason to think reality will differ from intent."
What the hell does that mean?

Blagojevich appointed Roland Burris as the new senator (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/31/us/31illinois.html?_r=1&hp). How will the market settle if the appointment is blocked by the senate?

Question did not say "who will be Obama's replacement", just "who will name Obama's replacement" .

How can questions be changed after predictions are made?

Right but since this question didn't settle as a result of Rod Blagojevich appointing a senator, I assume that it will only settle if we know that Blogojevitch's appointment will not be overruled by the senate.

Anybody with money on the Franken race can expect the same 'in limbo' settlement status now. The court challenge on this one is going to run for months.
This also affects anybody w/ $ on the Alaska, Minnesota, Georgia - how many will be Dems? too.

Valid point on the Hillary Q too, dean. What a mess.

well deisel, I just listened to AM Radio in the car the other day and heard his press conference live. A lot of people are trying to make this a race issue, but frankly you can't let a man who was trying to sell a Senate seat make the call becuase he picked a black guy. After all, he was about to sell it to Jesse Jackson (who's black) before. I don't think this type of logic is going to work, especially since Obama has already said that isn't a good reason to choose a senator and I heard the Democratic Senate leader is also against accepting anyone chosen by Blago.

And at curios I believe I "popped up" a while before you did, just haven't been frequenting this site for awhile.

Hm, seems to me theres a rule that whenever a US State Governor gts in trouble Hubdub will be swarmed in controversy regarding the outcome.

iron man you are right on one count as my mate deiel said we agree there OK

but on point two i joined on the 30th of Jan 08

you popped up on 10th of Feb 08 sorry mate that's what hubdubs all about doing your homework 0out of ten for trying

you can put on a dunces hat if you prefer?