It's a question that Mr. Blagojevich says he gets all the time.

When we met last week, Mr. Blagojevich was reluctant to say much on the subject. At first he tried to redirect the question to Jimmy Breslin. Eventually, Mr. Blagojevich said he hadn't been following the news about Mr. Paterson too closely.

"I know he got jammed up with something," said Mr. Blagojevich. "I don't know what it was."

"What should he do?" Mr. Blagojevich continued. "My position is--look, if he did nothing wrong, he should stand up and fight. But maybe he doesn't want to. It's a personal decision."