Sam Adam Jr. has concluded his 90-minute stem winder on behalf of Rod Blagojevich, a presentation so impassioned that Judge James Zagel warned the lawyer that he would admonish him in front of the jury if he yelled at a witness in the same manner as the trial progressed.

Aside from the theatrics, Adam's presentation may have been most notable for the unflattering way he portrayed his own client. Blagojevich was innocent, he said, but he was also naïve, shallow and incredibly insecure.
"He's probably one of the most insecure men you're ever going to see," Adam said of Blagojevich. "He shakes constantly. `Can we do this, should we do this?' His own lawyers won't take his phone calls."

The charges involving the alleged shakedown of Children's Memorial Hospital were an outgrowth of Blagojevich's diehard passion for the Chicago Cubs, Adam claimed.

"The man was cheating on Patti," Adam said. "One hundred sixty-two days a year, that man was cheating her. He loved the Cubs like nobody's business. That was his mistress..."

And some of the government's opening statements:

Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Hamilton painted a starkly different portrait of Blagojevich's conduct and motives. The election of Obama was "a golden moment" for Blagojevich, Hamilton told the jurors during her opening statement.

Blagojevich was broke and had $200,000 in credit card and home equity debt in the fall of 2008.

His power to appoint a successor to Obama was a "golden ticket" and an "answer to his career problems and his financial problems."

He considered appointing Valerie B. Jarrett, now a senior advisor and to the president, in exchange for being named head of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Hamilton said. Another idea he had was to be given a job heading some sort of organization that would be funded with millions of dollars, she said. He wanted a job that paid well.

Then he considered appointing Jesse Jackson Jr., but sent word that he wanted Jackson to raise $1 million for his campaign fund, Friends of Blagojevich.

"You are going to hear for yourselves how that corruption was unfolding as it was unfolding," Hamilton said, referring to government wiretaps that allegedly captured Blagojevich in conversations scheming to use his office as a means to personal financial gain. "You will hear him speak in vivid terms" that "this [the power to appoint a senator] is golden" and he is not giving it up for nothing.

And his quest for financial gain was not limited to the senate appointment, Hamilton said as she outlined for the jury numerous instances in which Blagojevich is alleged to have attempted to "shake down" people seeking to do business with the state.

"He corrupted the office of governor of the state of Illinois for his own benefit," Hamilton said. "Rather than asking what about the people I represent he was asking what about me?"

"What about me?"

That was Hamilton's refrain throughout her opening statement as she methodically illustrated instances in which Blagojevich and his "inner circle," which included convicted businessman Tony Rezko, his former chief of staff Alonzo Monk, his attorney John Harris and fund raiser Stuart Levine, attempted to use the governor's office for personal financial gain

It's like the olympics, you can't completely ignore the national ramifications.

heroes: