Among the 24 counts of fraud, conspiracy, bribery and racketeering that could land Blagojevich a long prison sentence are charges he dangled President Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder or demanded a cabinet post for himself in exchange for naming an Obama aide to the seat.
Since his arrest at dawn on December 9, 2008wholesale NFL jersey, Blagojevich has repeated his mantra of innocence in nonstop interviews, in a book, on the airwaves as a local disc jockey, and to anyone who would listen on NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice" television show.
Married with two young daughterswholesale MLB jersey, the 53-year-old former two-term Democrat governor and, before that, three-term U.S. representative said he is trying to make a living since being impeached and ousted last year by the state legislature.
His attorney told an interviewer that he had neither the capability nor the intention of shutting Blagojevich up.
"He's a celebrity idiot, but he is a celebritycheap MLB jersey," Sam Adam Jr. told Chicago Magazine of plans to let his client testify.
Quieting Blagojevich would never work, he added.
"I can't. But you're going to see when he testifies. He's truly funny -- totally self-absorbed but truly funny," Adams said. "He's also one of the most insecure people I've ever met. It's such a strange dynamic."
Another possible wild card in Blagojevich's long-awaited trial that begins on Thursday is whether it will entangle Obama and his aides in Illinois' hurly-burly political theater.
The trialyouth MLB jersey, which is expected to last up to four months, may expose discrepancies in how members of Obama's future administration characterized its contacts with Blagojevich after the November 2008 election.
Blagojevich is accused of trying to trade official acts for kickbacks to his campaign fund, to his friends, to his wife, Patti, and to himself. He is accused of trying to extract favors from, among others, a movie producer, the chief of a local children's hospital, and the Chicago Tribune.
Judge James Zagel of the U.S. District Court ruled out a defense request to have Obama testify. But among those who may take the stand are senior White House staffers Rahm Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, U.S. Senator Richard Durbin, and U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.
"Given the former Governor's previous antics regarding this caseNFL jersey, it's no surprise he is casting a wide net -- apparently from the President down to dogcatcher," a statement from Durbin's office said after the Senate Democrat was served.
CRIMES OR HORSE TRADING?
There is also the shadowy figure of a convicted influence peddler, Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a former friend to both Obama and Blagojevich who may testify for the prosecution.
Prosecutors are expected to rely heavily on the testimony of former Blagojevich aides, three of whom have pleaded guilty, and audio tapes featuring the often foul-mouthed Blagojevich.
The FBI recorded 500 hours of conversations involving Blagojevich and his cohorts. Prosecutors say they engaged in a turbocharged version of "pay-to-play" politics, and will play some 100 hours of the tapes for the jury.
Early on, Chicago's high-profile U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald released snippets of tape transcripts of the tapes and said he had halted a "political corruption crime spree" that would have made Abraham Lincoln roll over in his grave.
Blagojevich's predecessor, Republican George Ryan, was convicted on corruption charges and is in prison.
Unlike Ryan, Blagojevich is not accused of pocketing any money himself and experts say his task is to depict his talk as typical political horse trading. "Play all the tapes" to show the overall context, Blagojevich has repeated constantly.
In an impromptu news conference last month, Blagojevich called out Fitzgerald to meet him face to face in court -- "I hope you're man enough," he said. The following day, presiding Judge James Zagel told him sternly there would be no "head butting" in his courtroom.

Members of a Russian spy ring are seen in this courtroom sketch during their appearance in Manhattan Federal Court, July 8, 2010. The [color=#800080]nfl jerseys : we will give you almost 40%-50% off if you buy the products in our websites .and all the products is free shipping .besides ,there are no other charges to pay .if you are ready to buy large volume of our products ,we will give you the lower price to buy our products .we promise we will provide the best products and the cheapest price to you .[/color]



MOSCOW/VIENNA (Reuters) - The biggest spy swap since the end of the Cold War appeared to have taken place on Friday as Russian and U.S. planes met in Vienna to exchange agents, defusing an espionage drama that threatened improving relations.
Two planes involved in the swap, one Russian, one U.S., parked side by side on the tarmac at Vienna airport for around an hour and a half as vehicles shuttled between them. The Russian plane then took off, followed by the U.S. plane.
Local officials maintained a strict news blackout throughout.
Moscow and Washington had earlier agreed to swap 10 Russian agents held in the United States for four Russians jailed in Russia on charges of spying for the West.
The dramatic conclusion to the espionage scandal which has gripped America came after spymasters brokered the deal on the instructions of presidents keen not to derail a series of important diplomatic breakthroughs in Russia-U.S. relations.
In the first step of the carefully choreographed swap, the 10 Russian agents pleaded guilty on Thursday in a New York court to charges against them and were immediately deported.
Then, around midnight local time, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree pardoning four spies serving jail terms in Russia on charges of spying for the West.
Some of those accused in the U.S. boarded a plane in New York on Thursday night and the same Vision Airlines jet landed in Vienna on Friday, a Reuters witness said.Some describe of our products . The [color=#800080]ed hardy clothing[/color] :if you buy it in our websites ,we will give you free shipping ,and there are no other charges to pay . besides ,you will get 50%-60% off .what’s more we will provide you with personal customer service for large volume wholesale orders and discuss the shipping options fully.we promise we will provide the best products and the cheapest price to you .
As the planes stood parked in the bright sunshine, some people were seen boarding the Russian Emergency Ministry jet at the airport and others boarded the Vision Airlines jet. The Russian aircraft then took off, followed about 10 minutes later by the U.S. jet.
"The United States has agreed to transfer these individuals to the custody of the Russian Federation," the United States Justice Department said on Thursday.
"In exchange, the Russian Federation has agreed to release four individuals who are incarcerated in Russia for alleged contact with Western intelligence agencies," it said.
The spy scandal broke at an awkward time for U.S.-Russia ties, just days after Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev met for a friendly Washington summit last month.
The U.S. and Russian legislatures are also considering ratification of a key treaty cutting nuclear weapons and Russian accession to the World Trade Organization, things neither side wants to jeopardize.The u [color=#800080]jordan shoes :if you buy the products in our websites ,we will provide you the reasonable price(we can give you almost 60% off ) and then all of the products you buy are free shipping , besides, there are no other charges to pay .if you buy large volume of our products ,we will give you the VIP price ,which you can get a lot of tangible benefit from it .,we promise we will provide the best products and the cheapest price to you .[/color]
Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the spy swap "gives reason to expect that the course agreed on by the leaders of Russia and the U.S. will be consistently implemented in practice and that attempts to knock the parties off this course will not succeed."
But the swap itself -- which one Russian internet site quipped was "Russia 10: USA 4" -- may add fuel to Republican accusations that President Barack Obama is being too soft on Moscow.
SPY SWAP
Relatives of spies on both sides of the swap had waited anxiously in Russia -- all bar one of the 14 agents are Russian citizens -- for news of the swap. Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) declined all comment on details of the affair.
Moscow has always prided itself on bringing trusted agents back home and Washington has agreed to swaps before, though rarely on this scale.The girlshoesstore sale [color=#800080]louboutin shoes : we provide the most beautiful shoes to you .if you love it ,just action right now .all of our products are free shipping and you there are no other charges ,you just pay for you shoes only .besides the more you buy the more favourable terms you can get .we promise ,we will provide you the best products and the cheapest price . All of our products free shipping.and the more you buy the more Favourable terms you can get .just action right now .you could buy the best products in a low price . [/color]
The largest known Cold War spy swap was in 1985 when more than 20 spies were exchanged between East and West on the Glienicke Bridge in the then divided city of Berlin.
Spymasters on both sides say that despite generally warmer relations, the two former Cold War foes still fund generous intelligence operations against each other.
The current scandal broke when the United States said on June 28 it had uncovered a ring of suspected Russian secret agents who were using false identities to try to gather sensitive intelligence on the United States.
FBI counter-intelligence agents explained that the Russians had communicated with Moscow by concealing invisible text messages in photographs posted on public internet sites and some had met Russian diplomats from the U.S. mission in New York.
Russian diplomats said the timing of the announcement, just days after Obama and Medvedev's June 24 summit in Washington, could be an attempt by U.S. hardliners to torpedo the so-called reset in ties that Obama has championed.
A Kremlin source said Medvedev and Obama's warm relations had allowed the swap deal to be reached so swiftly.The NFL-2010 jerseys [color=#800080]wholesale nfl jerseys: If you buy the products in our websites ,all you buy is free shipping .and the price is more cheaper to other websites .besides ,you just pay for the products only ,there are no other charges to pay .what’s more the more you buy the more favourable terms you can get .we promise we will provide you the best products and the cheapest price .just action right now .[/color]
"This was due to the new spirit set in Russian-American relations and the high level of mutual understanding and trust between the Russian and American presidents that no one will be able to shake," the source said.