MARK KIESLING: Jackson's politics may come back to haunt him

The press once asked it of Richard Nixon, and now I'm asking it of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

What did Jackson know, and when did he know it?

Jackson, D-Ill., remains under investigation in connection with the alleged attempts to buy the vacant U.S. Senate seat of Barack Obama.

You might have heard of Obama. He was Illinois' junior senator until he was elected president of the United States three years ago.

When his seat came open, it was up to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to fill the vacancy. Blagojevich was convicted earlier this year on multiple public corruption charges, some of which pertained to the open Senate seat.

Jackson has admitted to being one of the people named anonymously in Blagojevich's indictment as a person who approached the guv with an offer to trade cash for the Senate seat.

Although the U.S. Department of Justice said it is no longer interested in pursuing allegations against Jackson, the House Ethics Committee had no such compunction.

So what does this all mean? For Jackson, not a whole lot in terms of a danger of ending up Blago's cellmate or the guy playing gin rummy in the day room at the Terre Haute federal prison with former Illinois Gov. George Ryan.

But there are — no doubt — going to be those (and many of them, if history does indeed repeat itself) who are going to believe that where there is smoke, there is fire.

Some of Jackson's people have told me privately that the congressman knew nothing of the money running between a coterie of Indian businessmen and the Obama campaign or the offer of a million bucks or so for the Obama seat.

Is that going to play in Park Forest?

He'd better hope so because in the reconfigured House district he now represents, he will not be facing a no-name opponent.

Debbie Halvorson, a Democrat from Crete, has represented that area in both the 11th Congressional District and the 40th Senate District in the Illinois Legislature, and is planning on challenging Jackson for his seat in next year's primary.

No newcomer, Halvorson, 53, likely will take on Jackson over the controversial idea of building a third Chicago-area airport in the Peotone area.

Halvorson has opposed the plan; Jackson has made it one of the linchpins of his time in office, despite the fact the airport would not even be in his district.

Sure, Halvorson stands to benefit from any misdeed by Jackson with the tainted Blagojevich administration, but that doesn't mean she caused his problems.

He's a big boy. He can do that all by himself.

The opinions are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at mark.kiesling@nwi.com or (219) 933-4170.