Today's punch line could be taken seriously tomorrow

It's difficult to be elected president of the United States if people don't know your name. You need name recognition.

George W. Bush might never had gotten off that ranch in Texas if his name were George W. Nahasapeemapetilon.

Barack Obama might still be a state senator if the Democrats hadn't given him a huge national audience during the 2004 prime-time National Democratic Convention so he could tell people about his "funny name."

And now no name is funnier and better-known than Rod Blagojevich.

By the end of this week, late-night comics could toss out a Blagojevich reference, confident their audiences would not trip over that pop culture reference.

Blago is famous.

David Letterman not only used "Blagojeviching" as a verb, he immortalized our governor in a Top Ten List. The top message left on Rod Blagojevich's answering machine was, "It's Sarah Palin. Thanks for replacing me as the country's most embarrassing governor."

On "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart skewered Blagojevich.

Even Blagojevich's hair took guff - as evident by a photo of Rod Bla-LEGO-vich that appeared on chicagoist.com showing our governor as a plastic-moptop Lego figurine.

Admittedly, it doesn't look good for Blagojevich's career, but he does have plenty of role models.

Time Magazine declared Dick Morris "the man who has Clinton's ear" shortly before President Clinton's chief political strategist resigned in disgrace in 1996 amid allegations of toe-sucking with a prostitute. Conservatives used him as the poster boy for a sleazy Clinton Administration.

Today, Dick Morris is an author and darling on the conservative commentary circuit.

Bill Clinton also rebounded from his sex scandal, of course. He is a political heavyweight even if I always find it funny to add the phrase "in bed" to whatever he says. Like when he commented on Hillary Clinton as secretary of state by saying, "I'll just try to be a helpful sounding board to her, but I don't think I'll do any more than that" - in bed. (See, it's fun.)

Eliot Spitzer, the New York governor who was the late-night punching bag earlier this year after he got caught hiring hookers, already is repairing his image. Spitzer started a gig this month as a columnist on slate.com. His Friday posting about the auto industry bailout noted "a significant downsizing of the auto-industry capacity is necessary" - in bed. (Works with him, too.)

A drug conviction didn't keep Washington Mayor Marion Barry from coming back to win his old mayoral seat.

Sex and drugs aren't the only follies of mocked politicians. Twenty years ago, Hoffman Estates Mayor Betty Gloyd didn't seek re-election in part because of the bad publicity that followed her late-night arrest on charges that she illegally trespassed upon the sacred grounds of Graceland, the former home of Elvis.

Eventually, Gloyd not only got the charges dropped, she won a lawsuit against the security forces who arrested her. Today, Betty Gloyd Drive in Hoffman Estates is named in her honor.

It's easier to recover from the wacky or a sex scandal, or even a wacky sex scandal (see Marv Albert's career), than a financial scandal, but Blagojevich has role models there, too.

Martha Stewart is back on top after serving time. Former Congressman Dan Rostenkowski went to prison for the way he used taxpayer money, opening his seat for a young Blagojevich. After being pardoned by President Clinton, Rosty remains a sought-after political analyst and speaker.

It took former Gov. George Ryan until Friday evening to finally issue a public apology for "mistakes made" during his corruption crime spree.

The tardiness of that apology, which didn't surface until all this public corruption talk threatens to kill Ryan's bid for a presidential commutation, hasn't stopped Ryan from being nominated for a Nobel Prize each year. Of course, if his prison sentence would keep him from picking it up in person.

Blagojevich may not have all the attributes necessary to follow in these footsteps, but he does now have one thing he's always wanted - national name recognition.