Obama's "Certain" His Staff Didn't Play Ball With Blago

In a press conference today, President-elect Barack Obama said that he's "absolutely certain" that no one in his campaign had anything to do with Gov. Blagojevich's pay-for-play system. He reiterated that he had no contacts with Blagojevich, and said that his staff is compiling of its own contacts with the governor and his staff, information that he'll release in the next few days.

"I won't quote back some of the things that were said about me," he joked. "This is a family program." "I can't presume to know what was in the mind of the governor. I can only read what was in the transcripts...and shake my head."

"I think in Illinois as is true in American politics generally, there are two view of politics. ... [one] that goes in for public service and sacrifice, and another that says, 'you're wheeling and dealing and what's in it for me. If, in fact, the various allegations end up proving to be true, this is ... the far end of the spectrum of that business mentality of politics. But there are more subtle examples of it that are within the lines of legality that still don't fulfill the reality of service," he said, citing lobbyists' "disproportionate" power in Washington.