With Election Day three weeks away, things could hardly be worse for U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.: He hasn't been to work in months as he recovers from hospitalization for depression. There are whispers he's under investigation for misusing campaign donations. Headlines announce he's been spotted at a Washington, D.C., bar, downing drinks.
It would be enough to send most campaigns into full crisis communications mode. Yet the Jackson camp has maintained the same, often baffling approach: virtual silence.
To political observers and strategists, the long stretch of Jackson scarcity is as unusual as it is surprising. Since he quietly went on leave in June, Jackson, 47, has made no statements or appearances to publicly explain his health status or his plans for seeking re-election and maintaining the congressional seat he has held for 17 years.
Even in a district where he is expected to cruise to victory, many are beginning to wonder how much his long absence may be hurting him. Some say any aspirations Jackson had beyond representing Illinois' 2nd district continue to shrink with each passing day. Already, there are signs he's taken a major hit in at least one area that matters greatly to a politician's future career â€" fundraising.
Delmarie Cobb, a Chicago political consultant and aide to the elder Jackson when he ran for president in 1988, said that with every development and non-response from Jackson, his staff and his family, she has the same reaction: "How is this happening?"
"Because they are who they are in terms of being press savvy, you just can't believe what you're seeing," Cobb said. "It's like watching a train wreck, and it's getting worse every day."
The cloud of mystery around Jackson heightened this week as reports emerged that the congressman â€" convalescing at his Washington home following a diagnosis of bipolar disorder â€" faces a new federal investigation into potential misuse of his campaign finances. The Chicago Sun-Times, citing anonymous sources, first reported the probe, which is reportedly separate from a House ethics investigation looking into his connections to imprisoned ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
An FBI spokesman in Washington, Andrew Ames, told The Associated Press he could neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation into Jackson.
Then, internet reports said Jackson was spotted drinking on two separate occasions at a Washington-area bar last week. The next day, the first photos in months of Jackson were published in The Daily and made their way around the web, showing the congressman dressed in jeans, sneakers and an untucked shirt outside of his Washington home. The only comment Jackson made to the publication was that he was "not well" and seeing a doctor twice a day.
Jackson's wife, Chicago Alderman Sandi Jackson, told reporters earlier this month that her husband is following doctors' orders to "stay very calm and very quiet." She said he would return to work as soon as his physicians said he could do so, and she thanked his constituents for their patience.
At one time, Jackson, son of Rev. Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader, boasted a promising future as a possible future Chicago mayor or senator. While voters still are expected to re-elect him in November in his solidly Democratic district rooted in south Chicago, his political fortunes have fallen hard since being linked to the Blagojevich corruption saga in 2009.
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