Dec. 10, 1956: Blagojevich is born in Chicago.

1979: Blagojevich graduates from Northwestern University.

1983: Blagojevich earns a law degree from Pepperdine University in California. He would later joke about being a C student in constitutional law.

1992: He is elected to the Illinois House from Chicago.

1996: Blagojevich wins a term in Congress, representing Illinois' 5th district.

2002: Blagojevich, in his third term in Congress, campaigns for governor on ethics reform. He seeks to replace Republican George Ryan, who chooses not to seek re-election amid a bribery scandal that eventually will send him and several of his lieutenants to prison.

January 2003: In his first speech as governor, Blagojevich promises to attack "a system of corruption that has become too commonplace, too accepted and too entrenched."

December 2003: Blagojevich signs a tough new ethics law aimed at curbing corruption in state government.

January 2005: Blagojevich's father-in-law, Chicago alderman Dick Mell, says the governor traded campaign contributions for spots on boards and commissions. Mell later recants those comments. Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine confirm they are reviewing allegations that a Blagojevich adviser arranged for people to be appointed to state boards and commissions in exchange for $50,000 contributions to the governor's campaign fund.

June 2006: U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's office says it is looking into "very serious allegations of endemic hiring fraud" in the Blagojevich administration.

September 2006: Reports surface that Blagojevich accepted a $1,500 check from a friend two weeks after the friend's wife received a state job, despite having failed a hiring exam. Blagojevich at first said the check was a birthday gift to his oldest daughter, then later said it was a gift for his younger daughter's christening.

October 2006: Blagojevich friend and fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko is indicted for allegedly conspiring with another defendant to extort millions of dollars in kickbacks from state contractors, some of it earmarked for the campaign fund of "a certain public official," later identified as Blagojevich.

November 2006: Blagojevich is elected to a second term as governor.

June 2008: Rezko is convicted of bribery. During the trial, witnesses testify they contributed money to Blagojevich in return for jobs in his administration, that Blagojevich used his power to award state contracts to raise campaign funds.

October 2008: Government secretly obtains court approval to bug Blagojevich's campaign office and wiretap his home telephone.

Dec. 9, 2008: Blagojevich is arrested by federal agents and charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery. The FBI alleges the governor participated in several "pay to play" schemes, including attempting to sell President-elect Barack Obama's vacated United States Senate seat to the highest bidder.

BY PHILLIP O'CONNOR OF THE POST-DISPATCH, AND THE LEE CAPITOL BUREAU IN SPRINGFIELD, ILL.