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Central Illinois Gazette

Just do it

Posted by: Tom Kacich

Tuesday, February 24, 2009 5:16 PM

OK, first Durbin. Now we need Obama to give a strong signal for Burris to quit.

The great Roland is obviously not listening to anyone else.

BY LYNN SWEET Sun-Times Washington Bureau Chief

WASHINGTON — Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) held a 59-minute meeting Tuesday with embattled Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) and afterwards said Burris told him he will not resign.

Durbin said he told Burris he would not support his candidacy in 2010. Durbin said he asked Burris if he was going to run in 2010 and Burris said he has not decided. A source told the Sun-Times that Burris is not going to run.

In any case, the uproar surrounding Burris would make it politically impossible to run since almost every major Democrat in the state has asked Burris to step down.

"I told him that under the circumstances I would consider resigning if I were in his shoes. He said he would not resign, and that was his conclusion," Durbin said. "People in Illinois are bone weary of this stuff."

They "want this Blagojevich burlesque to end."