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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."
      

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Politics and Government News

In an abrupt reversal, Senate Democratic
leaders are sitting down with Roland Burris in the Capitol amid new
indications that he's likely to be seated as the new senator from
Illinois.

Reid says Burris might ultimately get Senate seat

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