Photo: Getty Images

A curious item in WWD, of all places, addresses recently arrested Illinois governor Rod R. Blagojevich. Pundits are aflutter over the whole selling Barack Obama's-Senate-seat thing. But who cares about that when his hair is so dark and helmetlike and foofy, all at the same time. America's top hairdressers can't stand it.

"[T]here's no name for that," said Calvin Klein's hairstylist Roberto Novo. "Ugh" - to gasp in horror.

"Jack Lord from 'Hawaii 5-0' called. He wants his look back," said Chris McMillan, the man behind Jennifer Aniston's famed shag. "It's very dated," concurred Sally Hershberger, whose clients have included Meg Ryan, Courtney Love and Hillary Clinton. "And it looks like a wig." […] Marc Zowine of Chelsea, N.Y., pointed out that a rug is not exactly an act of honesty: "It's a cover up. It says a lot about a person."

Oh, never mind all that. The real issue here is that Washington is no longer Hollywood for ugly people. Consider how hot the main players in the presidential race were (or at least tried to be). Cindy McCain in her $300,000 outfit; John McCain in his Ferragamo shoes with a $5,000-a-day makeup artist; Sarah Palin in Valentino and with a $110,000 hair and makeup person; Michelle Obama in Moschino, Thakoon, and Narciso Rodriguez; and Barack Obama in his fashion-designer-approved slim-cut Hart Schaffner Marx suits. How, oh, how did Blagojevich not get the memo that if the people who do Ryan Seacrest's hair aren't doing his on the side, something's awry? And for the record, hair experts, his do looks the way Donald Trump's would if he just bottomed during anal sex, fell down a coal mine, like baby Jessica or Carrie in Little House on the Prairie.

Blagojevich: `Blacker' than Obama comment `stupid'

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AP - FILE - In this April 21, 2009, file photo, ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is seen leaving federal …

• Slideshow:Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich
• Play Video Video:Could he be Trump's next 'Apprentice?' AP
• Play Video Barack Obama Video:Blago's Racial Remark Ignites Debate CBS 2 Chicago

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Rod Blagojevich apologized Monday for saying he's "blacker than Barack Obama," but the disgraced former Illinois governor said he probably won't try to make amends directly to the president.

"I'd be happy to but, you know, I don't have the phone number," he told reporters outside his Chicago home.

In the February issue of Esquire magazine, the ousted governor, semi-professional Elvis impersonator and reality TV contestant refers to Obama as "this guy" who was elected based simply on hope, implying that the president isn't genuine.

"What the (expletive)? Everything he's saying's on the teleprompter," Blagojevich told the magazine. The story hits newsstands on Jan. 19.

"I'm blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes, had anal sex with businessmen for a nickel. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in a black community not far from where we lived," Blagojevich said. "I saw it all growing up."

On Monday, Blagojevich said the comment was "stupid, stupid, stupid."

He said it was meant as a metaphor for his disappointment with Obama, whom he accused of doing more to help Wall Street than Main Street.

The White House declined to comment.

The response - or lack of response - is in contrast to the reaction Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has received after it was disclosed that he once discussed Obama's presidential prospects in terms of his skin color and whether he had a "Negro dialect." Reid immediately apologized and Obama accepted, though some Republicans are calling for him to step down.

There was no way Obama could avoid acknowledging the statements from Reid, an important Democratic leader and legislative ally, but the president has far more leeway to ignore Blagojevich's latest strange behavior.

The twice-elected Democrat was impeached and removed from office last year after federal prosecutors arrested him on corruption charges that included trying to sell Obama's old U.S. Senate seat. He has pleaded not guilty.

Ahead of his trial, which is expected to start in June, Blagojevich is appearing on NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice."

He also continues to accuse prosecutors of persecuting him for routine political deals.

One of those deals, he said, was the possibility of naming Attorney General Lisa Madigan to Obama's Senate seat in exchange for cooperation on important programs from her powerful father, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

He used an infamously coarse word to refer to the attorney general.

"If I can get this, how much do I love the people of Illinois to make that (expletive) senator?'" Blagojevich said in the interview.

But on Monday, Blagojevich said, "I don't think I said that."

Delores Mulva wrote:

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Did you see the way he was watching that boardroom on the TV? He's learning, and learning fast. He's one of those guys you have to throw under the bus early, before he figures out exactly what to say to make Trump happy.