Senate Democrats beat a hasty retreat Wednesday from their rejection of Roland Burris as President-elect Barack Obama's successor, yielding to pressure from Obama himself and from senators irked that the standoff was draining attention and putting them in a bad light. Burris said with a smile he expected to join them "very shortly."

When Burris returned from Washington, D.C., on Wednesday at Chicago's Midway Airport he said he had a "great meeting" with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Dick Durbin.

He said his only regret from the whirlwind two-day trip is not being able to walk on the Senate floor to be sworn in with the newest legislators.

Burris says he watched the ceremony on television and thought, "My gosh, that really should have been me."

The former Illinois attorney general is scheduled to appear today in Springfield before Illinois House members investigating Blagojevich's impeachment.

Though there was no agreement yet to swear Burris in on Wednesday in D.C., he posed for photos at the Capitol with Senate leaders, then joined them for a 45-minute meeting followed by supportive words that bordered on gushing. The events came one day after Burris had left the Capitol in the pouring rain in a scripted rejection.

Obama had spoken to Reid on Monday on the need to find a quick solution to defuse the dispute, according to Democratic officials. Reid was told by Obama that if Burris had the legal standing to be seated -- despite controversy surrounding his appointment by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich -- it should be done "sooner rather than later," said an Obama transition aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because the conversation was private.

The dispute had taken on racial overtones after comments by some Burris supporters. The former Illinois attorney general would be the Senate's only black member following Obama's departure.

"My whole interest in this experience is to be prepared" to lead Illinois, Burris, 71, said after meeting with Reid and assistant Democratic leader Durbin, himself an Illinois senator. "Very shortly I will have the opportunity to do that."

Neither Reid nor Durbin disputed that, though they had declared with certainty a week ago that Democrats would not seat a senator appointed by a governor now accused of trying to sell the seat. Obama said then, "I agree with their decision."

On Wednesday, only words of good will, with photos, poured forth.

Obama told reporters that he knew Burris, liked him and would be happy to work with him.

The Democratic leaders brought Burris in from the rain and into Reid's spacious personal office just off the Senate floor for a meeting that had been set up last week. They invited news photographers in to capture the three -- Burris in the middle -- laughing and chatting.

Reid and Durbin then retreated from their won't-be-seated rhetoric and cast the dispute as a procedural delay caused by concerns about why Blagojevich made the appointment.

"First of all, understand we don't have a problem with him as an individual," Reid said of Burris, calling him an "extremely nice" and "forthright" man. "At this stage, the process is working out," he said.

Added Durbin: "I've known him for such a long time. We are friends and on a first-name basis."