Jones joins bidding for Obama Senate seat

For the first time, outgoing Illinois Senate President Emil Jones is saying he would like President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat.

"Yes, I am interested,'' Jones said on WBBM-AM's "At Issue," which aired Sunday. Obama's replacement should be black, Jones said, because otherwise the U.S. Senate will be all-white.

"Barack would not be there had [it] not been for an Emil Jones,'' Ald. Carrie Austin (34th) said at a Sunday news conference to push Jones.

Gov. Blagojevich decides who gets the plum. Besides Jones, political chatter is focusing on U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, state veterans' affairs chief Tammy Duckworth, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky.

Maureen O'Donnell