Reid says Burris might ultimately get Senate seat

Burris and Reid
Illinois U.S. Senate appointee Roland Burris meets with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Capitol Hill January 7, 2009 in Washington, D.C.
Alex Wong/Getty Images

Changing course, Senate Democrats emerged from a meeting with Senate appointee Roland Burris on Wednesday and set forth the legal steps under which they're willing to welcome him into the Senate in President-elect Barack Obama's vacated spot.

Praising the former state attorney general, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Senate is awaiting a court ruling in a case that tests whether the signature of the Illinois secretary of state is needed for Burris to take the seat. He suggested that would be a step toward seating Burris.

"We don't have a problem with him as an individual," Reid said at a news conference in which he dramatically softened his party's opposition to seating any appointee of embattled Gov. Rod Blogojevich.

Federal prosecutors arrested the governor last month and accused him of trying to sell Obama's Senate seat.

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, who also met with Burris, said he hoped the legal matters would be resolved "so we can fill all the vacancies and have a full complement of the Senate."

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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