Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) to urge him to pick his chosen candidates for President-elect Obama’s Senate seat, according to a new report.

Reid called Blagojevich’s office on Dec. 3, less than a week before the governor was arrested for allegedly trying to sell the seat for financial or professional gain, according to a Chicago Sun-Times story published Saturday. The paper also reported that incoming Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) head Bob Menendez (N.J.) reached out to the governor separately to discuss the selection.

Reid also urged Blagojevich not to pick Reps. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) or Danny Davis (D-Ill.), and to avoid Illinois Senate President Emil Jones (D). All three, Reid believed, would not be able to hold the seat against a strong Republican candidate.

A senior Reid spokesman defended the calls as simple due diligence.

“Of course Sen. Reid spoke to the governor of Illinois, just as he spoke to the governors of New York and Colorado when senators from those states accepted jobs in the new administration,” Reid spokesman Jim Manley told The Hill. “It is part of his job as majority leader to share his thoughts about candidates who have the qualities needed to succeed in the Senate.”

Matt Miller, a spokesman for the DSCC, said Menendez did not suggest any candidates who would be acceptable choices nor did he tell Blagojevich anyone would be unacceptable. Miller would not comment on whether Menendez had been in touch with New York Gov. David Paterson (D) or Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter (D) about appointments in those states.

The conversations with Blagojevich came as federal investigators were tapping several of the governor’s phone lines, making it likely that one or both of the calls will show up among the thousands taped by authorities. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), the incoming White House chief of staff, was also recorded speaking with Blagojevich and his top aides.
The three top Democrats joined so many other callers taped by federal investigators that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald this week filed a request for more time to return an indictment against Blagojevich. Ordinarily, Fitzgerald would have had 30 days after filing a complaint to return indictments, which would have made the charges due by January 7.

Instead, thanks to so many tapes and the numerous witnesses who have come forward, Fitzgerald would have until April 7 to file indictments. During a press conference explaining the impending charges against Blagojevich, Fitzgerald made a public plea for any victims of pay-to-play politics to come forward.