Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who has been the most aggressive of in pursuing Barack Obama's open U.S. Senate seat, appeared on MSNBC this morning to discuss the appointment. Echoing Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Luis Gutierrez, Jackson said, "I don't think it's that important at all that the governor makes a decision based on race."  He added that Blagojevich should make "a decision based upon the values that represent the interests of our state and the 44th President of the United States."  Watch it:

Also, what's with Andrea Mitchell's claim at the top that "we have an all-white United States Senate"?  Daniel Akaka, Ken Salazar, Mel Martinez, Daniel Inouye, and Bob Menendez would probably beg to differ.