So who is Roland Burris, the man who will reportedly be appointed by Rod Blagojevich to Barack Obama's Senate seat?

Burris is an experienced and respected hand in Illinois politics, who offered himself up as a potential appointee about two and a half weeks ago, soon after the criminal complaint first came down alleging that Gov. Rod Blagojevich was trying to sell the Senate seat. Burris said at the time that he was "appalled" by the allegations, and that he only wanted to serve as a caretaker Senator and not seek election in 2010.

In 1978, Burris became the first African-American elected statewide in Illinois, becoming state Comptroller. He served for three terms and was then elected Attorney General in 1990, before running unsuccessfully for governor in 1994, 1998 and 2002. In 2002, one of his opponents in the Democratic primary was none other than Rod Blagojevich, but Burris came in third with 29% in a very tight race.

If Blagojevich was really going to try something like this, he probably couldn't have picked a better person. Now the only question is whether the Senate will actually allow Burris to be seated.