Jake Tapper on Blagojevich/Obama connections...

Jake Tapper is on the "Axelrod misspoke" excuse like white on rice... Read it all but here is a juicy sample;

But there remain questions about how Blagojevich knew that Mr. Obama
was not willing to give him anything in exchange for the Senate seat --
with whom was Blagojevich speaking? Did that person report the governor
to the authorities?

And, it should be pointed out, Mr. Obama has
a relationship with Mr. Blagojevich, having not only endorsed
Blagojevich in 2002 and 2006, but having served as a top adviser to the
Illinois governor in his first 2002 run for the state house.

In the Democratic gubernatorial primary that year, then-state sen.
Obama endorsed former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris. But
after Blagojevich won, Obama came around enthusiastically. At the same
time, meanwhile, Axelrod had such serious concerns about whether
Blagojevich was ready for governing he refused to work for his one-time
client.

According to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., Mr. Obama's
incoming White House chief of staff, Emanuel, then-state senator Obama,
a third Blagojevich aide, and Blagojevich's campaign co-chair, David
Wilhelm, were the top strategists of Blagojevich's 2002 gubernatorial
victory.

Emanuel told the New Yorker earlier this year that he
and Obama "participated in a small group that met weekly when Rod was
running for governor. We basically laid out the general election,
Barack and I and these two."