Jesse Jackson Jr. is holding a press conference right now; here’s a liveblogging thread…

“I reject and denounce pay to play politics… I did not initiate or authorize anyone at any time, etc.”

UPDATE at 12/10/08 1:37:37 pm:

Over in a flash! No questions from the media, just a story about his little sister, some self-aggrandizement, and then a little Martin Luther King to finish up:

Somewhere along the way over the last two and a half years I got the idea that if a skinny kid with a funny name could be President of the United States, then a short kid with a somewhat controversial but certainly a high profile name could be a Senator from Illinois. I entered this process with that expectation, and I hope that the people of the state of Illinois and the people of our country will measure me based on the content of my character.