CNN breaking news: former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel will be Chicago’s new mayor:

CNN projects former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel wins the Chicago mayoral vote by more than 50%, avoiding a runoff.

Shocka! Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has been thrown off the ballot for mayor of Chicago, after an appellate panel ruled that he did not meet the residency requirement.

So now, the question becomes, “Why did Barack Obama flatly deny that any discussions took place?” He had to have known about Emanuel’s talks with Blagojevich; it’s hard to see this as anything other than a lie.

Rahm Emanuel talked with governor’s office about who should fill Obama’s Senate seat.

Emanuel, who has long been close to both Blagojevich and Obama, has refused to respond to questions about any involvement he may have had with the Blagojevich camp over the Senate pick. A spokeswoman for Emanuel also declined to comment Friday.

One source confirmed that communications between Emanuel and the Blagojevich administration were captured on court-approved wiretaps.

Another source said that contact between the Obama camp and the governor’s administration regarding the Senate seat began the Saturday before the Nov. 4 election, when Emanuel made a call to the cell phone of Harris. The conversation took place around the same time press reports surfaced about Emanuel being approached about taking the high-level White House post should Obama win.

Emanuel delivered a list of candidates who would be “acceptable” to Obama, the source said. On the list were Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, Illinois Veterans Affairs director Tammy Duckworth, state Comptroller Dan Hynes and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Chicago, the source said. All are Democrats.

Sometime after the election, Emanuel called Harris back to add the name of Democratic Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan to the approved list, the source said.

(Hat tip: 3 wood.)

Rahm Emanuel may not be guilty of anything, but good grief. Could he possibly seem any more guilty? Rahm ducks reporters’ questions on Blago.

President-elect Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, refused to take questions from reporters this morning about whether he was the Obama “advisor” named in the criminal complaint against Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The complaint states Blagojevich wanted a promise of a high-level appointment or some other reward for Blagojevich in exchange for Blagojevich naming Obama’s friend Valerie Jarrett to replace him in the U.S. Senate.

Emanuel was uncharacteristically absent from Obama’s news conference this morning. He was spotted two hours later in the lobby of Chicago’s City Hall. He was there to listen to his two children performing in a concert with their school, Anshe Emet.

A Sun-Times reporter pressed him to comment about whether he was the emissary named in the criminal complaint.

“You’re wasting your time,” Emanuel said. “I’m not going to say a word to you. I’m going to do this with my children. Dont do that. I’m a father. I have two kids. I’m not going to do it.”

Asked, “Can’t you do both?” Emanuel replied, “I’m not as capable as you. I’m going to be a father. I’m allowed to be a father,” and he pushed the reporter’s digital recorder away.

An aside: I’m amused to see so many media reports using “Blago” instead of spelling out Rod Blagojevich’s full name. I suspect it’s because they don’t trust their journalism school grads to spell it correctly.