WFLD Gets Jackson Jr--And Coffee Offer

OK, it wasn’t quite a Gov. Rod Blagojevich interview, but WFLD Chicago did get the first interview with Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. at the crack of dawn this morning–as well as an offer for a cup of coffee at the embattled Congressman’s house. Reporter Anne Kavanagh was rewarded for waiting out on what looks like a nasty, frigid morning (it’s 16 degrees in Chicago now, can’t imagine what it was in the wee hours this morning) by getting Jackson to chat outside his home regarding his role as the mysterious Candidate 5 in the Blagojevich case. 

The Chicago stations are of course all over the Pay-Rod scandal, which took a new turn with a report in today’s Tribune about a party where the governor may have discussed the open Senate seat with a Jackson-friendly fundraiser who said he’d kick a million bucks toward the governor. News leader WLS has video of Jackson issuing a no comment early this morning. The NBC O&O caught Jackson describing the "traffic jam" of humanity he ran into at the U.S. Attorney’s Office later this morning. 

The WFLD morning anchors, Mike Barz and Jan Jeffcoat, seem shocked that Kavanagh got the face time with Jackson. Barz invokes another beloved Chicagoan–Dennis Franz’s Det. Andy Sipowicz character–when he says of Jackson: "The last couple of days he’s been all lawyer’d up."