Accused Senate-selling US governor back in court

CHICAGO — The ousted Illinois governor accused of trying to auction off President Barack Obama's vacated US Senate seat headed back to court Wednesday for a retrial on corruption charges.Rod Blagojevich was convicted in July on a charge of lying to federal agents, with the jury deadlocked on the 23 other counts in the indictment, including racketeering, bribery, attempted extortion, and wire fraud.Prosecutors immediately vowed to retry Blagojevich on the remaining counts while the flamboyant politician and media phenomenon returned to the airwaves, pitching everything from his innocence to pistachios.Jury selection began Wednesday and opening statements are not expected until sometime next week.During the first trial, which dragged on for 11 weeks, the jury heard a host of secret tapes of Blagojevich's profanity-filled conversations.The most explosive was when he described his chance to appoint a new senator to replace Obama as "f(expletive) golden," and said: "I'm not just gonna give it up for f(expletive) nothing."Blagojevich's defense team insisted that his ramblings -- which included musing about appointing talk show queen Oprah Winfrey to the seat -- were mere political horse-trading.The jury failed to reach a conclusion on whether a crime was committed.Blagojevich, 54, is also accused of trying to shake down a children's hospital, a construction executive and a racetrack owner for campaign contributions, as well as trying to get the owner of the Chicago Tribune newspaper to fire editorial writers who were critical of his leadership.Prosecutors have simplified their case this time around, dropping confusing racketeering charges and declining to retry Blagojevich's older brother Robert, who proved a sympathetic figure with the first jury.Blagojevich was arrested in December 2008, two months after Obama won the White House race, vacating his post as one of Illinois's two US senators.Blagojevich, who ultimately named fellow Democrat and state attorney general Roland Burris to the seat, was impeached by

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