David Axelrod, a senior advisor to President-elect Barack Obama, has put out a statement regarding the apparent contradiction between what he told a Chicago television station last month and something his boss said Tuesday.
Talking about the process to fill the Senate vacancy caused by Obama's election to the presidency, and about Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Axelrod said, "I know he's talked to the governor and there are a whole range of names many of which have surfaced, and I think he has a fondness for a lot of them."
But on Tuesday, Obama said "I had no contact with the governor or his office so I was not aware of what was happening."
In the statement, Axelrod takes the hit, saying: "I was mistaken when I told an interviewer last month that the President-elect has spoken directly to Governor Blagojevich about the Senate vacancy. They did not then or at any time discuss the subject."
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