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Winfrey says she has no time to be a senator

Oprah Winfrey was surprised by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s revelation Monday morning that he considered appointing the talk-show host to President Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat — a job she does not want.
/ Source: Access Hollywood

Oprah Winfrey was surprised by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s revelation Monday morning that he considered appointing the talk-show host to President Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat — a job she does not want.

On Monday, during a visit to ABC’s “Good Morning America” to defend his innocence in connection with accusations that he tried to auction off Obama’s Senate seat, Blagojevich said he thought Winfrey would make a good replacement. He faces an impeachment trial Monday.

“She seemed to be someone who had helped Barack Obama in a significant way to become president,” Blagojevich said. “She was obviously someone with a bigger bully pulpit than other senators. She probably wouldn’t take it.”

When Winfrey’s best friend Gayle King called her a short while later to discuss the news on her Sirius XM satellite radio program, “The Gayle King Show,” the talk host expressed her surprise.

“My plan was to get up and watch ‘Good Morning America’ and work out and then I just thought, ‘Let me just lay here another half hour.’ If I had been watching, as I normally watch — from the treadmill, I would have fallen off the treadmill,” Winfrey said. “I’m pretty amused by the whole thing.”

When asked by King if she would consider the seat, Winfrey made her answer a definitive one.

“Absolutely not,” she said. “I would have said, ‘Where would I fit it in with my day job? My mid-day job, my night job, my radio job, my magazine job?’”

While she has no plans to enter into politics, Winfrey admitted she was sure she could fill the needs of such a post.

“I think I could be senator too,” Winfrey added. “I’m just not interested.”