Seriously though, whats the difference?

Is What Blago Did Illegal?

Playing devil's advocate for a moment. Obviously, if the tapes are accurate, what Blagojevich was odious and unethical and dishonorable. But was it illegal?

Here's why I ask: the Tribune's reporting that not only was Jesse Jackson Jr. candidate five, but that Blago had a meeting with a business man named Raghuveer Nayak who's a fundraiser for both men, and it was during that conversation that Nayak offered to raise as much as $1.5 million for Blago's campaign fund if he gave Jackson the seat.

OK, it's possible that Jackson had no idea these folks (including, it appears, his brother) were scheming on his behalf. But here's my question: My understanding of the law is that there's a distinction between personal pecuniary interests/compensation and campaign fundraising. In other words: it would be manifestly illegal, obviously, if Blago was "selling" the seat in the sense of trading it fro cash for himself. But is trading the seat for fundraising help really illegal? and if so, doesn't that mean that a huge percentage of political transactions are illegal, including all those conversations during the primary about Obama inducing HRC to drop out in exchange for fundraising help to retire her debt?

I'm not defending this at all. Let me make that clear. I'm saying that politicians trade things for fundraising help all the time, it's half of what they do. So where's the line where that becomes illegal?