Same year:
Kerry - 2,891,550 - 55%
Bush - 2,345,946 - 44%
2002 - A sacrificial lamb year for Illinois Senate
Durbin - 2,080,411 60%
Durkin - 1,320,621 38%
Keyes ran 17% behind Bush in one of his weakest states. SO many people who voted for Bush voted for Obama against Keyes. He ran 11% behind Durkin in another democrat year in Illinois, 2002. Durkin was a sacrificial lamb and got what should be a bare minimum in Illinois. That's not counting the fact that Keyes has run numerous times for president in the past and went nowhere each time.
I'll go so far to say that I blame two people more than anything else for making Obama into a media star. One is Jack Ryan for screwing up and letting Jeri Ryan get away (dropping out of the race), and the other is Alan Keyes for carpetbagging and running a Charlie Foxtrot of a campaign.
Keyes needs to back out of running and go back to the speaker's circuit where he does best. He gave us Senator Obama. I don't need him to give us President Obama.
Dear Darren - all else being equal, one could expect similar results. But this year already has many significant guaranteed differences from prior elections, and there’s still eight months to go. That’s significantly longer than the entire 2004 Keyes campaign in Illinois — he agreed to run 86 days before the election in that case. Eight months is a very long time.
But nothing gives me more hope than my abiding belief that with God, all things are possible. I’ve never had a whit of desire to attend a political convention, but I’ve made my hotel reservations for the Constitution Party’s Kansas City convention. I don’t even know whether or not I’ll get to be a Maryland delegate yet. But these times seem extraordinary to me, and if I don’t support the only candidate who comes close to representing my views, well, I’m not satisfied with displaying a “Don’t Blame Me” bumper sticker or tagline. A vote for McCain would be a vote to give the global governance crowd the keys to our economy and way of life, via carbon dioxide controls. I can not imagine ever casting such a vote.
As to castigating Keyes for carpetbagging in Illinois, I respectfully and wholeheartedly disagree. My take on it is that he accepted a challenge and displayed great courage. Who would you have preferred to have been placed on the ticket by the Illinois Republican Party?
What bothers me most about conservative attitudes towards Keyes including some talk show hosts (wtmj's am 620 Charlie Sykes for example) when his name crops up is they are repeating the same mantra which was offered by MSM and echoed by Topinka and company .
When Keyes gets criticized on his Illinois race thats the reason and I've taken Sykes as much as I respect him for the great work he's doing in Wisconsin to task in my website http://www.theusmat.com/ for failing to dredge up the dirty deeds done to Keyes by Illinois RINOS ...As far as Keyes positions on social issues go they're not much different and than Huckabee's and no reason to be vilified as Keyes has been..But I am sticking by the old man as the lessor of two evils. Any fool who sees it differently with a 3rd way is a recipe for disaster. What we should be doing is targeting, guys like Murtha, Durbin,and Obey, making sure that if Obama gets in he doesn't have the horses to stampede US off the cliff