Well, Obama's seat was filled.

Or, was it? Seems that his appointed successor--former Secretary of State of Illinois Roland Burris--has been told "No Senate seat for you!" This story from MSNBC, "Burris rejected in bid to claim Senate seat", tells of what happened when Mr. Burris showed up with unacceptable credentials:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28507873?GT1=43001

A mob of reporters awaited him outside the Senate's North Door, where Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer and a throng of officers escorted him through security and up to Erickson's office on the third floor.

There, more reporters waited. Once again Burris went through a metal detector and into Erickson's office, nestled between the elevators and the press gallery.

Twenty-one minutes later, Burris left; a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid confirmed that Burris had been rejected.

Burris left the building, escorted by Gainer and his officers.

And what was wrong with the credentials? One might think it has to do with something with Blagojevich and accusations that the seat had been sold to the highest bidder, an accusation that has been vehemently denied. However, Mr. Burris himself admits that Illinois Secretary of the Senate Nancy Erickson had informed him that his credentials lacked a required signature and the Illinois state seal. Yet he went to Washington anyway.

With reporters in tow.

After having already been told that he would NOT be seated.

Yet he would claim that he was "not seeking to have any type of confrontation" over taking the seat?

Even if the credentials had been kosher, Mr. Burris would have had an uphill climb in terms of being accepted by the Senate and Obama himself since "Democrats and Obama have said that the corruption charges against Blagojevich would strip credibility from anyone he appoints..." Indeed, it appears that Senate Democrats are in no mood to appoint anyone Blagojevich sends and have made it clear that because he was appointed by a Governor who is facing corruption charges for trying to sell the seat vacated by Obama he would NOT be seated and has little credibility anyway.

But will Mr. Burris ans his supporters just go home quietly and accept the "Sorry, no can do." from the Senate leadership? Are you kidding?

Burris and many of his supporters have suggested that the real reason for the rejection involved race.

Out comes the race card! Yes, Mr. Burris would be the only Senate member who is African-American, but since the member whom he is intending to replace is also African-American, the argument is simply grasping at straws.

Or, rather, his attorney is doing the grabbing:

An attorney for Burris, Timothy W. Wright III, said that "our credentials were rejected by the secretary of the Senate...We were not allowed to proceed to the floor for purposes of taking oath. All of which we think was improperly done and is against the law of this land. ..."

Aw, shut the fuck up! Whine...whine...whine... (want some chees(y excuses) with that whine? )

His client knew ahead of time that his credentials sucked.

The time to have asked questions was of the Illinois Secretary of State before he showed up in Washington. There is no indication that the signature and seal were improperly withheld at the state level; if those had been in place, there would have been no problem.

Playing the race card to get sympathy is certainly not going to make his client's credibility any better, even if he is ultimately seated, in the eyes of the Senate or the Senate Democrats. Or those of President Elect Obama.