Can he manage to lose this one too?

Once upon a time, after he moved from a top spot in Jesse Jackson’s Operation PUSH into Democratic politics, Roland Burris was considered a smart, pragmatic, progressive politician–one who could win with support from African-Americans, Chicago “reformers,” and a handful of downstate voters he’d won over with reminders that he was originally from their part of Illinois. Thirty years ago he broke a barrier as the first African-American to hold statewide office in Illinois, and in 1990 he became just the second in the country to become a state attorney general.

But over the last, oh, decade and a half, he’s shown a mastery of losing elections, including several in which he appeared to be the favorite until the final days of the campaign. Within state political circles he’s developed a reputation for being desperate to get back into office–any office.

Here’s the timeline of his electoral career: 

Now, of course, it sounds like Governor Rod Blagojevich, always true to his word, is about to pluck Burris from his lucrative consulting and law gigs and name him to fill Barack Obama’s empty U.S. Senate seat.  

That doesn’t mean Burris, 71, will end up holding public office again. If, as they’ve stated repeatedly, Senate leaders refuse to seat anybody stained with the “impropriety” of Blago, Burris may end up pulling off yet another impressive feat–losing a bid for an office after he was appointed to it.

UPDATE: Burris also ran unsuccessfully for the state legislature in 1968.