FILE - In this April 14, 2010 file photo, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., center, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. With the November election only five weeks away, Jackson's absence from work and the campaign trail is testing patience in Chicago. His GOP opponent is now criticizing him for it after pledging not to. Friendly editorial writers are now urging he come forward and finally explain himself. And Jackson's alderman wife, Sandi, is having to deny in public that she might step in to replace him. The Jackson camp says only that the congressman is still on the ballot and will only return to work when cleared for that by a doctor, but the uncertainty and mystery is feeding talk of what happens if he resigns and needs to be replaced, a process with a sordid history in Chicago and Illinois. He is flanked by then-House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Md., left, and Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind. (AP Photo/Harry Hamburg, File)
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