The Senate lawmakers have unanimously voted (59-0) to oust Democrat Senator Rod Blagojevich after an impeachment trial that took four days.

Despite his passionate defense speech, Rod Blagojevich was handed the “political death penalty” through the Senate’s vote which forbids him from ever holding public office again in the state of Illinois. Mr. Blagojevich was accused of abusing his power and, among others, trying to “sell” the Senate seat left vacant by President Barack Obama to the highest bidder or “parachute” himself on that seat which would have gave him the chance to run for U.S. presidency in the near future.

Mr. Blagojevich entered political history by becoming the first chief executive in Illinois to be impeached, and this happened in a state with a long history of political corruption.

In a 47-minute speech, Mr. Blagojevich urged senators not to vote against him arguing that he had never intended to violate the law. He claimed that "there hasn't been a single piece of information that proves any wrongdoing."

"How can you throw a governor out of office with insufficient and incomplete evidence?" he asked the senators.

During several hours of deliberation, almost every single senator stood up to criticize Mr. Blagojevich.

"He reminded us today in real detail that he is an unusually good liar," Republican state Sen. Matt Murphy said. "We bent over backward to make sure that this process was fair."

After the vote to impeach Mr. Blagojevich, the “welcome” sign with his face which greeted visitors of the Capitol in Springfield was brought down and the golden nameplate with Blagojevich's name was removed. His picture was replaced by that of Gov. Pat Quinn, who took Blagojevich’s seat.

Democratic Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn already signed the oath of office to become Illinois’ 41st governor. The legacy he inherited and now must cope with is a budget deficit of $5 billion.