‘I did not have contact with that governor …’

It stretches the imagination that Barack Obama had no -- nothing, nada, zero -- contact with Gov. Rod Blagojevich about Obama's potential successor to his U.S. senatorial seat.

But, that's the stand Obama has carved out for himself. It's a place with no wriggle room and plenty of questions that have yet to find answers.

First, his own top aide just days before told Fox News that Obama did absolutely talk with Blagojevich about his successor and that there were several good candidates in the running.

Obama later said his aide "misspoke". Now, I don't know what "misspoke" can possibly mean in that context other than his top aide is either hopelessly out of the loop, or a liar.

Second, we now find out that "Senate Candidate No. 5" on the wiretap is none other than Jesse Jackson Jr., one of Obama's early supporters and pals. "Senate Candidate No. 5" was the one candidate alleged to have acted improperly. So, are we to believe that Obama's No. 1 pal and political supporter was seeking Obama's vacated seat without so much as one word of support from Obama?

And finally, Illinois politics (as illustrated by Gov. Blagojevich) is a cesspool of graft. President-elect Obama explains that in Illinois (as elsewhere) there are two styles of politics -- the cesspool type, and the Mother Theresa type. Gov. Blagojevich is the cesspool type and Obama (if he does say so himself) is the Mother Theresa type. I don't think it works that way (especialy in Illinois), but that's Obama's position.

Which brings us to the point: Obama's standing on a sliver of ground trying to stay above the Blagojevich mess in his home state. My guess is that in the next week or so enough new information will come out to determine whether Obama is righteous in claiming that ground, or not. One thing is for sure, Obama's own mouth leaves him no wriggle room.