Meet Senate Candidate C: Blair Hull

ID'd by sources

The Sun-Times has identified "Candidate C" in the indictment of Rod Blagojevich as Blair Hull, the wealthy former trader and blackjack player who lost his bid for the U.S. Senate to Barack Obama when damaging divorce papers became public down the homestretch in 2004.

It's a familiar story.

"Blagojevich wanted something from 'Candidate C' - $100,000 in campaign cash" say sources with knowledge of the Blagojevich investigation.

Naturally.

Hull and Blagojevich were once close allies.  Blago was one of the chief beneficiaries of Hull's largesse when he was spreading money around to state Democrats laying the groundwork for his Senate race.

But all did not end well between the two.

Sources say Hull once lent Blagojevich $100,000 and, after Blagojevich refused to endorse him in the 2004 race, asked that the money be returned, the Sun-Times reports.

Then last fall, Blagojevich received a call on Hull's behalf from Fred Lebed - Roland Burris's business partner.

Lebed arranged a meeting between Hull and Blagojevich that apparently went nowhere.

The identification of Hull as Senate Candidate C, though, helps fill out the scorecard.

To review: 

Jesse Jackson Jr. is Senate Candidate A, Valerie Jarrett is Senate Candidate B and Emil Jones is Senate Candidate D.

And like Danny Davis, they must thank God every day they didn't become the junior senator from Illinois.

Steve Rhodes is the proprietor of The Beachwood Reporter, a Chicago-centric news and culture review.

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