- [Narrator] Against all odds, Blagojevich won, marking the first time a Democrat was in the governor's office in nearly 30 years.

- His political instincts were incredible.

His charisma was incredible.

And keep in mind, this is a first-generation American, son of a steel worker.

You know, not someone who grew up with a lot of advantages, who became the governor of the fifth biggest state in the country.

So that doesn't happen outta nothing, right?

It takes talent and hard work.

- Raise your right hand.

- [Narrator] Blagojevich was sworn in with his pregnant wife, Patti, and young daughter by his side.

- To the best of my ability.

- Congratulations Governor, may God bless.

(crowd cheering and applauding) - For the first time in my life when I was elected governor, I actually had power.

I see a state where ethics laws are respected, we're doing good, is once again honored.

I was the youngest in the family, so I never sat at the head of the table at anything.

I don't carve the turkey to this day, Patti's father does that.

But now I'm the governor and I sit at the head of the table, and there's like $53 billion that I have a lot of influence on to decide where it goes and where it comes from.

If you look at the results of my time as governor, I truly believe I was, I'm gonna say this, I really believe it, I believe I was the best governor in modern Illinois history, by far.

- [Narrator] There was a time during his first term when many Illinois residents would have agreed with him.

- Most of his issues were people oriented, and that's why he became so popular as a governor, especially in the Black community.

- He could relate to minorities, he could relate to older folks, he could relate to younger folks, women loved him.

- [Narrator] Although the governor made few friends in Springfield, he was able to make good on many of his campaign promises, passing key legislation, including health insurance for children, free bus rides for seniors, and access to reproductive healthcare.

- He was very, I think, progressive for his time, but also someone who spoke to the community and understood the community in a way that not everyone had before him.

- [Narrator] From the outside, Blagojevich appeared to be working hard for the people of Illinois, but his former deputy governor, Bradley Tusk, says that behind the scenes, Blagojevich had little interest in actually governing.

- He was home a lot.

He would run three, four, five times a week, six, seven miles.

He loved to read.

It's interesting, he would never read anything about state government.

So if you gave him like the budget briefing book, he wouldn't touch it.

But a thousand-page biography of Napoleon, he would devour that.

And he loved to just be on the phone all day, kind of talking political gossip.

- [Narrator] The day-to-day running of the state fell to 29-year-old Tusk by default.

- I didn't know what I wasn't supposed to be able to do.

So we took on a lot of really big fights that probably shouldn't have been winnable, like universal healthcare for kids, or universal preschool for kids, or knocking down every toll booth and doing open road tolling, and being the first in the country to do that.

And look, to Rod's credit, while he didn't provide much support in terms of achieving these things, he also didn't stand in the way of them either.

(quiet rhythmic music) - [Narrator] Tusk says the governor spent an inordinate amount of time on his most distinguishing feature, his hair.

- We called his hair brush, The Football, being like the nuclear football that was, you know, the most important sort of case in the world that are the President's codes to the nuclear arsenal.

On the days where he had his hair being dyed, it was a 24-hour, nothing else could go on the schedule.

- You can be a workhorse or a show horse.

And I think he wanted to be the show horse and not necessarily the workhorse.

- [Narrator] Blagojevich's top priority was fundraising, bringing in as much money as possible to support his own political ambition.

- Rod wanted to be President.

In fact, I traveled with him on a trip to Washington, D.C. while he was governor where he met with James Carville, who had been a leading advisor to Bill Clinton.

And he met with Carville to talk about how you basically jumpstart a presidential campaign.

- [Narrator] Tusk says he was kept in the dark on Blagojevich's fundraising apparatus, but the deputy governor got a peek behind the curtain when then Congressman Rahm Emanuel called wanting to know why Blagojevich was holding up $2 million in funding for a school in his district.

- I said, "Rod, you know, I don't even know what this is, but Rahm called me.

I assume it's just sort of a little internal screw up.

If you, I'll take care of it and just get him out of our hair."

"No, no, no, can't happen, Ari'll always be a fundraiser."

- [Narrator] Ari was Ari Emanuel, Rahm's brother, and one of the most powerful people in Hollywood.

- And Rod did not want the grant for the school in Rahm's district to be given out until the fundraiser was held.

And I said to Rod, "You can't link these two things.

One's government, one's politics.

You know, it's not legal to put these two things together."

- [Narrator] Putting these two things together would amount to extortion.

Tusk alerted Blagojevich's general counsel.

The plan was quickly shut down and the funds were approved, but it was a red flag in a harbinger of things to come.