Obama resigning Senate seat

CHICAGO – President-elect Barack Obama said Thursday that he will resign from the Senate, effective Sunday.

In a statement, the junior Illinois senator called his four-year term "one of the highest honors and privileges" of his life and said the people of Illinois will stay with him as he leaves the Senate to begin "the hard task of fulfilling the simple hopes and common dreams of all Americans as our nation's next president."

Under state law, Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich will name Obama's replacement for the remaining two years of his term. Blagojevich has said he expects to make a decision by year's end, and has ruled out appointing himself. Obama is the only black senator.

His resignation reduces the Democratic majority to a bare minimum for the post-election session that begins next week. The party retains control as long as Independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut sides with them.

The irony of that is that several Democrats favor punishing Lieberman for his speech at the Republican National Convention this summer and for some of the remarks he made critical of Obama in the course of the presidential campaign.

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