Roland Burris, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s pick to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate, should follow the example of former U.S. Sen. Dean Barkley of Minnesota by agreeing to serve only an abbreviated tenure. That’s the suggestion of The Nation magazine’s State of Change blog, which cites nascent impeachment efforts against the governor in terming the taint of Blago’s touch “untenable” enough to preclude Burris from filling out Obama’s full term.

The Barkley precedent stirs up unresolved questions about Minnesota’s ongoing Senate recount: Which major-party candidate will end up benefiting from Barkley’s third-party Senate run this year? And would Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty follow Blago’s example and fill a vacancy in Minnesota’s Senate contingent? And will the Senate be as willing to seat Burris or a Pawlenty pick as it was with Barkley eight years ago?

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura appointed Barkley, a fellow Independence Party stalwart, to fill out the remaining weeks of U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone’s term after his death just days before the 2002 election. Barkley was a third-party candidate for the office this year, drawing enough support (15 percent) to affect the result. But it’s still unclear whether Coleman or his Democratic rival Al Franken will be the ultimate electoral beneficiary of Barkley’s participation.

Meanwhile, Pawlenty has downplayed the likelihood that he’d exercise his option to fill a vacancy in the Wellstone/Barkley/Coleman seat. While the embattled Blagojevich may have little to lose, Pawlenty is busy parlaying his national stature as an also-ran for the GOP vice-presidential nomination into short-list status for the party’s presidential pick in 2012. That likely makes the political cost of any appointment to fill a Minnesota Senate vacancy untenable for T-Paw.

There’s also the question of the willingness of the U.S. Senate to seat either Burris or a Pawlenty appointee to the Minnesota Senate seat. The senators themselves hold the constitutional wild card in the process voters started Nov. 4 when they tried to choose a senator, and Majority Leader Harry Reid has already signaled opposition to seating Burris.