Jesse Jackson, Jr. On The Run!

Congressman Jesse Jackson (D-Illinois) resigns from Congress. He is caught up in a political scandal and its taking a toll on his sanity.

After easily winning election despite being about 70% away from his constituents, Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Illinois) is resigning from Congress.

The son of Civil Rights leader Jesse Jackson has been at the Mayo Clinic for depression and bipolar disorder. The embattled congressman sent his resignation letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) this week. This likely Democrat but it could be a Republican pick up if they line up a candidate.

Jackson leaves a legacy behind. He also leaves behind a controversy.

His personal issues from his health, to reports of having an mistress have taken a toll on his sanity!

But is he just trying to distract the country?

He is currently under investigation for misuse of campaign fundraising. He also embroiled in the scandal that cost former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich his position. When Barack Obama, resigned from the senate to become the President Of the United States, Blagojevich was caught on tape telling people that he's willing to make a price for the seat. Jackson was hoping he could become the next Illinois senator. The FBI issued an arrest warrant for the governor. The governor resigned soon after.

President Barack Obama wanted the seat to go to Tammy Duckworth, Valarie Jerret or Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois). Blagojevich appointed Roland Burris to seat. Burris is also under investigation for potential corruption. Burris chose not to seek reelection and in 2010, the seat went to Mark Kirk, a Republican congressman.

Civil Rights leader Jesse Jackson, the father of embattled congressman

Blagojevich was sent to federal prison. The FBI is closing on Jackson. There could be charges for corruption against Jackson.

The current governor Pat Quinn (D-Illinois) will have to issue a special election for the seat shortly.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Jackson's political star was on the rise until allegations surfaced in late 2008 that his supporters offered to raise as much as $6 million for Blagojevich in return for the governor appointing him to the Senate seat vacated by the president-elect. Though Jackson was never charged in that case, a House ethics panel investigation into his actions was ultimately eclipsed by a federal criminal probe based in Washington, D.C., into alleged misuse of campaign dollars.

Jackson's resignation letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, was Jackson's first acknowledgment of the ongoing federal corruption investigation.

"I am doing my best to address the situation responsibly, cooperate with the investigators, and accept responsibility for my mistakes, for they are my mistakes and mine alone," Jackson said in the two-page letter. "None of us is immune from our share of shortcomings or human frailties, and I pray that I will be remembered for what I did right."

Jackson's Washington legal team, which recently added former federal prosecutor Dan Webb, a Chicago partner at Winston & Strawn LLP, indicated that while Jackson's political fate has been settled, there's more to come in a court of law.

"We hope to negotiate a fair resolution of the matter but the process could take several months," they said in the statement.

Despite admitting "my share of mistakes," Jackson said his deteriorating health — and treatment for bipolar depression — kept him from serving as a "full-time legislator" and was the reason for his resignation.

Jackson's decision to step down came little more than two weeks after his re-election to another two-year term despite a lack of campaigning. He disappeared from the public eye in June after taking a medical leave from the House for what aides had initially described as exhaustion.

Jackson formed a political tag-team with his wife, Ald. Sandi Jackson, 7th, who over the years has received hundreds of thousands of dollars as a paid political consultant to her husband. Despite her role on the City Council, the couple maintained an upscale home in Washington and sent their children to school there. Sandi Jackson has refused to discuss her husband's political future or the investigation into his campaign spending. She could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

Jackson's resignation immediately launched a field of possible successors —to be nominated and elected in special elections early next year — that could involve more than a dozen Democratic contenders, some of them political has-beens and others up-and-comers representing a new generation of leadership.