It was taped Dec. 8, 2008, the day before Rod Blagojevich was arrested.
"Right now if I had to pick I'd say Gery Chico. And we'd call him an Hispanic, right?"
he says to his chief of staff John Harris.

In the call, Blagojevich brings up the Lisa Madigan deal, saying he would like to tap Rahm Emanuel to construct such a deal.

"If you're picking today, who you picking?" Blagojevich asks Harris. "Do we ever make the move with Madigan, or do we forget the whole thing? The question is how do you do it? Get Rahm to go in," Blagojevich is heard on the call telling his chief of staff.

The defense is trying to use the recording to bolster Blagojevich's repeated contention that at the time of his arrest, he had not made a decision on who to appoint to the Senate seat.

The prosecution will no doubt point out that the discussion came after Blagojevich learned through a newspaper report that federal authorities were secretly recording him.