* This is not new news…

Just two weeks before his arrest on corruption charges, then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich floated a plan to give President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat to the daughter of his biggest political rival in return for concessions on his pet projects, people familiar with the plan told The Associated Press.

We’ve known that Lisa Madigan was Senate Candidate 2 in the federal arrest report since Day One.

* And this isn’t new news, either…

Blagojevich also said he wanted a deal in which the elder Madigan would allow a long-stalled capital construction program through the House and take action on a Blagojevich-backed health care plan in return for his daughter’s appointment to the Senate seat, the aides said.

I’ve already reported that, and it can also be inferred from the arrest report…

Advisor B agreed that the three-way deal would be a better plan than ROD BLAGOJEVICH appointing Senate Candidate 2 to the Senate seat and getting more done as Governor. [Emphasis added]

And this is the story Blagojevich leaked to Sneed back in November…

“The latest from Blagoville is Gov. Rod Blagojevich toying with tossing Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who wants Blago’s job?

“*It may endear him to powerful House Speaker Mike Madigan, Lisa’s dad, who is Blago’s political foe.

There was no way that plan would’ve worked anyway. Speaker Madigan wouldn’t even return Blagojevich’s calls and refused to meet with him. No way would he have cut a big legislative deal like that based on a Senate appointment for his daughter.

* And this isn’t new, either…

Blagojevich told Sen. Dick Durbin he was thinking of naming Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to the seat, according to two Durbin aides who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Read down in the story…

A Durbin aide said that in the conversation a number of names were mentioned as possible Senate picks — not just Madigan’s. He said Durbin spoke about the conversation at a news conference after Blagojevich’s arrest and mentioned Madigan’s name but none of the news reports that emerged mentioned Madigan — only Obama confidante Valerie Jarrett.

The only thing that may be new is that Durbin said he’d help. Trouble is, according to the story, Blagojevich told Durbin to “do nothing” and never got back to him.

*** UPDATE - 10:14 am *** From the Southern Illinoisan…

Durbin spokesman Joe Shoemaker said the two discussed about 20 possible appointments for the senate seat, of which Madigan was one, and Blagojevich had asked the senator’s opinion about the decision.

“Sen Durbin tried to get across two messages. Pick someone who can hit the ground running as a senator, and number two, find someone who can be appointed quickly,” Shoemaker told The Roll Call, a newspaper covering Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.