Don Surber reports that Hillary Clinton may stay in the race… even if she loses in either Ohio or Texas… or both. The reason: Barack Obama’s past is catching up with him. First there was the NAFTA controversy of course, which could - I think - seriously hurt Obama. Especially in the long run (can you imagine John McCain harping on it time and again?). And now, there’s something else: Obama’s name may very well come up in ” the trial of his longtime friend and accused Illinois fixer Tony Rezko, according to Chicago lawyers following the case.”

MSNBC reports:

“I think it’s realistic that that could happen during the trial,” said Zach Fardon, a former Chicago federal prosecutor who was part of the team that convicted former Illinois Gov. George Ryan on corruption charges.

Jury selection for Rezko, accused of bribing public officials and taking kickbacks, began this morning in a Chicago federal courtroom.

Although contributions Rezko steered to Obama’s 2004 Senate campaign are cited in pretrial motions, he is unlikely to be called by prosecutors to testify about them.

Obama has said he was “unaware” of the allegedly illegal contributions Rezko insisted others make, and the Obama campaign has donated to charity some $150,000 connected to Rezko and others involved in the federal investigation.

But former prosecutor Fardon, now with the Chicago office of Latham & Watkins, says Rezko’s defense lawyer could use Obama “to show that Mr. Rezko is somebody active in politics and political fundraising and there’s nothing unto itself nefarious about that fact.”

Well, it’s never good for a politician to be named in such a trial, but there’s nothing per definition wrong with Rezko saying “Yeah, I know Obama.” If that’s where the story ends, Obama’s problems will be limited.

But, sadly for Obama, the story may (pay special attention to the word may) not end there at all:

Buried on page 59 of the indictment is a reference to one of many alleged kickbacks on a state contract that appears to have ended up as a $10,000 donation to an unnamed “political candidate”.

The kickback was allegedly arranged by Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a Syrian immigrant who became a powerful political fixer in Chicago. The “political candidate” who benefited from the $10,000 has been identified as Barack Obama, the Democratic contender calling for “change we can believe in” in the presidential race, who is said to be a longtime friend of Mr Rezko.

Jerome Armstrong comments:

If that does wind up to be the case, with Obama actually being named as the actual “political candidate”, it will be a political earthquake.

We’ve been talking about dirt for a while now, thinking that the Clinton camp didn’t have anything. And if the Clintons can’t find it, many argued, no one can.

But there’s still time, and one shouldn’t forget that Obama is a Chicago politician. PoliGazette co-blogger Rick Moran wrote a post on this subject recently, I suggest you read it. Rick knows Chicago and knows that politics there can be dirty. Very. Extremely. Dirty.

Just to give you an idea:

The Obama-Rezko relationship must be understood in the context of the influence peddling, the casual corruption, the cronysm, the favoritism shown in less than open bidding - all part of a city and state political culture where the politician, the businessman, and the crook frequently rub elbows and sometimes wear each other’s hats. Obama hiring the daughter of a Rezko associate to work in his office (after Rezko had helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for his campaign) is no big deal. But this kind of “favor” done for Rezko is a different story..