The Roland Burris circus arrived at the Senate today

The man appointed by tainted Governor Rod Blagojevich arrived to claim his Senate seat. He found the door figuratively shut in his face. The Secretary of the Senate Nancy Erickson refused to allow Burris to be placed in the record books. He was not allowed to proceed to the floor for the purpose of taking an oath. His papers were not in order. Is anyone surprised by the outcome? I guess Burris got his 15 minutes of fame today. I hope he can now be forgotten. I am afraid we will hear from this blowhard again.

Burris denied seat in US Senate to succeed Obama
Jan 6 01:45 PM US/Eastern
By LAURIE KELLMAN and ANN SANNER
Associated Press Writers


WASHINGTON (AP) - Roland Burris failed in his bid to take President-elect Barack Obama's Illinois Senate seat on Tuesday in a scripted piece of political theater staged just before the opening of the 111th Congress.

"My credentials were not in order, I will not be accepted, I will not be seated," Burris, 71, told a mob of reporters who had followed him across the street for a news conference in a cold and steady rain outside the Capitol.

The former Illinois attorney general said he was "not seeking to have any type of confrontation" over taking the seat that he was appointed to by embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich. But Burris, who would be the Senate's only black member, also said he was considering a federal lawsuit to force Senate Democrats to seat him.

It was a major distraction for majority Democrats eager to project an image of progress with Obama on an economic stimulus package that could cost up to $1 trillion.

Democrats and Obama have said that the corruption charges against Blagojevich would strip credibility from anyone he appoints to the seat. Burris and many of his supporters have suggested that the real reason for the rejection involved race.

Blagojevich denies federal accusations that he tried to sell Obama's seat. Democrats, for their part, deny that race has anything to do with Burris' rejection and say that it's a reflection on Blagojevich.

That Secretary of the Senate Nancy Erickson turned away Burris was no surprise; Senate Democrats had warned for weeks that if Burris showed up to be sworn in on Tuesday without the signature of the Illinois secretary of state, he would be turned away. That's just what happened. Link here.