Illinois U.S. Senate appointee Roland Burris talks with the media after arriving at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport in Linthicum, Md., Monday, Jan. 4, 2009. (AP Photo/Rob Carr)
(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) would be electable as a candidate for the U.S. Senate, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson (D-Conn.) told CNSNews.com on Monday.
 
But last Friday The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had spoken with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) – prior to his indictment in December – and recommended that he not appoint Jackson, Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) or Illinois State Senator Emil Jones (D) to fill Barack Obama’s Senate seat, because Reid apparently did not think either man was electable and feared losing the seat to a Republican.
 
Then on Sunday, on NBC’s Meet the Press, Reid did not deny the report from The Chicago Sun-Times but said, “This is part of Blagojevich’s cloud. He’s making all this up. I had a conversation with him. I don’t remember what was in the conversation, other than the generalities that I just talked about. I didn’t tell him who not to appoint.
 
“He’s making all this up to divert attention. … Jesse Jackson Jr. is somebody that I think would be a good senator. And for Blagojevich to start throwing out these names of people who I wanted and didn’t want, he’s making it up,” Reid added.
 
As for Jackson Jr., “Yes, I do think he is electable,” Hoyer told CNSNews.com. “How is that for a courageous answer? You heard it here. Hoyer says one of his members is electable as a United States Senator.”
 
Larson said the same. “Having served with Jesse Jackson, I know first hand of his capability, and I think he would make an outstanding senator,” Larson told CNSNews.com.
 
Larson also said he believed that Reid had “recanted” on his apparent position against Jackson.
 
“I heard Reid yesterday on Meet the Press, and he mentioned that Jackson would be perfectly acceptable, so apparently he has recanted what he said,” said Larson.
 
On Dec. 9, 2008, Blagojevich was arrested by federal agents on charges of attempting to sell the Illinois Senate seat vacated by Obama for cash and campaign contributions.
 
Members of the Democratic Senate leadership, including Reid, warned Blagojevich that if he appointed a senator in the midst of the corruption scandal, they would exercise the Senate’s constitutional right to choose who can join their body and deny the governor’s appointee.
 
But Blagojevich said he has “done nothing wrong" and appointed former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to the vacant seat on Dec. 30, 2008.
 
According to a New York Times report published Monday afternoon, a “defiant” Burris was on his way to Washington to claim his seat Tuesday and participate in the 111th Congress.
 
“This is all politics and theater, but I am the junior senator according to every law book in the nation,” Burris reportedly said on Monday. “I am the junior senator from Illinois, and I wish my colleagues in the press would recognize that.”