Posted on 08/02/2004 4:28:25 PM PDT by ChuckK
CHICAGO -- The story of finding a replacement for former Illinois Republican U.S. Senate nominee Jack Ryan took yet another plot twist today as word began circulating that certain members of the GOP State Central Committee are seeking to woo former GOP presidential candidate and one-time United States ambassador to the United Nations, Alan Keyes, into the race.
Keyes, a conservative icon, is being sought after by certain party leaders and a bevy of grassroots conservative activists who are enthralled with Keyes' renowned oratory skills on issues of conscience, according to a source close to the situation.
Over the weekend, suggestions of Keyes, an African-American conservative Republican who does not live in Illinois, began circulating among the rank-and-file GOPers at a northwest suburban Republican picnic with a state central committee vote looming tomorrow.
While Keyes is a resident of Maryland with no identifiable ties to Illinois, the residency issue does not present a legal problem. According to the Article I, Sec. III of the United States Constitution, a candidate for United States Senate must only "...when elected, be an Inhabitant of the State for which he shall be chosen."
Further, some Republicans believe the example of Hillary Clinton's successful run for the U.S. Senate in New York in 2000 largely makes the potential of a "carpetbagger" charge against Keyes a minor issue.
Other Republicans say reaching outside of the state party's disarray is the only hope of presenting a contender to Barack Obama, given his newfound national stature.
"That's a candidacy that would energize the base," Kathy Valente, a grassroots activist said over the weekend.
Other conservative leaders organized Keyes for President campaigns in Illinois in 1996 and 2000 when Keyes challenged George W. Bush, Gary Bauer, and John McCain for the Republican nomination.
"Whoa . . . if Alan Keyes were to take on the challenge of Illinois and Barack Obama for us, the race would immediately become national, Keyes could raise national money against Obama and the debate between the two of them would be the clash of the Titans," Lee Newcom, former president of United Republican Fund, said on Monday.
Other Names in the Mix
John Cox, currently the GOP nominee for Cook County Recorder of Deeds and who has thrown his name into the fray as the possible Senate GOP replacement, said Sunday that he would be happy to support Keyes if he entered the race.
Liz Gorman, a Cook County Commissioner from the far southwest suburbs, may be wavering in her enthusiasm to take on the race. Gorman has been touted by former Cook County GOP Chairman Maureen Murphy among others but is reported to be having second thoughts about formally offering herself as a candidate on Tuesday.
As reported in other news sources, Gorman says that national Republican sources have promised her a $1 million match if she is able to raise $1 million herself. Gorman is reportedly close to former Chicago Democrat alderman-turned-Republican kingmaker Ed Vrdolyak.
Gorman's family business, Midlothian Dodge, located at 147th and Cicero Avenue, is in the middle of a lawsuit with Daimler-Chrysler, causing the auto dealer to close its doors in the Fall 2003.
State Central Committeeman for the 1st Congressional District Maureen Murphy was on conservative Tom Roeser's WLS radio program Sunday night stumping for the Gorman candidacy. While Murphy acknowledged the financial problems Liz and Gerald Gorman have encountered, Murphy said Gorman had made it through the party's vetting process and the Gormans were on the right side of the controversy, telling the radio audience "there are two sides to every story."
Up until Monday morning, Edwardsville-based lumber company millionaire Robert Plummer was seen as a serious candidate.
Plummer was promoted by downstate Central Committeeman last Friday. Plummer reportedly offered $5 million to help jump start a campaign, and those who are concerned about down ticket slots were excited that a Plummer candidacy would be helpful in legislative races in central and southern Illinois. However, IllinoisLeader.com learned today that Plummer has decided against offering himself up as a potential candidate.
Dairyman and investor Jim Oberweis of Aurora, who finished second to Jack Ryan in the March 2004 U.S. Senate primary, continues to face tough odds in gaining his party's confidence to pursue the senate race. Oberweis is the second choice of some committeemen and not on the list of others. Oberweis told IllinoisLeader.com that he would consider the race if he was promised support from the Republican National Committee.
Another name, reportedly being encouraged by U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert is retired WGN farming reporter, 70-year old Orien Samuelson. Samuelson's familiarity with farming issues and his long term popularity within rural communities gives him a potential leg up on the other unknowns for the important downstate vote.
And former POW General John Borling of Rockford also told IllinoisLeader.com last week that he, too, was open to the running against Obama although he received only 2 percent of the vote in the Republican U.S. Senate primary.
Other names are still circulating as well, such as GOP primary contender Chirinjeev Kathuria and a couple of lesser-known applicants.
© 2004 IllinoisLeader.com -- all rights reserved
It's not The Land of Lincoln anymore, it's The Land of Rosty.
Oh, so you're against carpet baggers now?
If Alan had the same endorsement from DC that Liddy got would that sway you? I mean she is your Senator now. I thought the team was the important thing? Why would you want to deprive the good people of Illinois a chance at a Republican Senator? Do you agree that Obama has a lock on the election without some dramatic RNC intervention?
;-)
Regards,
TS
PS:
IMHO, The chances of Alan doing this are slim and none.
Hello, she was BORN here and owned property here. The same cannot be said for Hillary and/or Keyes.
And, yes, I'd love to see some dramatic intervention to stop Obama. Got any?
We should only be so lucky..........*sigh*.
Good point. You've got my democrat boot-licking, far left, crazy sister down there. Sorry.
Bogus example. Running for office in your home State where you were born and raised is not comparable to people just moving to a State with which they have no connection to run for office.
GO Alan GO!
But I'm no Illinoisian.
I'd like to suggest that the GOP use this very long-shot situation to go directly against Obama in his own back yard. ISSUES: 1, Social Security. African Americans have a shorter life expectancy than whites. That means that as a group they collect less in benefits. With a 401k plan, their heirs would at least get the money and have a better opportunity to build real wealth. But Obama and his Plantation masters like things just the way they are, with African Americans on a very short leash.
2. Educational opportunity. Obama opposes vouchers. He's in favor of rich-people-only schools that black kids are frozen out of. The anti-voucher approach also takes money (on a per-pupil basis) AWAY from the public systems. 3.Leadership opportunity discrimination. 80% of African Americans are opposed to abortion, they are overwhelmingly opposed to gay marriage, they favor school vouchers, yet stepping out of the Plantation Masters line on any one of these issues means they are barred from serious activity or position in the Democratic Party, regardless of ability. It's time to find another home. It doesn't have to be an African-American to wage this campaign. It could be anybody, but SOMEONE should take advantage of this OPPORTUNITY.
I'd like to suggest that the GOP use this very long-shot situation to go directly against Obama in his own back yard. ISSUES: 1, Social Security. African Americans have a shorter life expectancy than whites. That means that as a group they collect less in benefits. With a 401k plan, their heirs would at least get the money and have a better opportunity to build real wealth. But Obama and his Plantation masters like things just the way they are, with African Americans on a very short leash.
2. Educational opportunity. Obama opposes vouchers. He's in favor of rich-people-only schools that black kids are frozen out of. The anti-voucher approach also takes money (on a per-pupil basis) AWAY from the public systems.
3.Leadership opportunity discrimination. 80% of African Americans are opposed to abortion, they are overwhelmingly opposed to gay marriage, they favor school vouchers, yet stepping out of the Plantation Masters line on any one of these issues means they are barred from serious activity or position in the Democratic Party, regardless of ability. It's time to find another home.
It doesn't have to be an African-American to wage this campaign. It could be anybody, but SOMEONE should take advantage of this OPPORTUNITY.
No, but the IL GOP leadership claims they should have a decsion tomorrow: "The 19 members of the Illinois Republican Party’s State Central Committee will meet at noon Tuesday at Chicago's Union League Club to hear from candidates interested in replacing Jack Ryan as the GOP’s U.S. Senate nominee. IL GOP State Chairman Judy Baar Topinka has been quoted in the press saying Barack Obama’s Republican opponent will be chosen at this meeting."
www.illinoisleader.com/news/newsview.asp?c=18191
I don't think anyone the Republicans could run would have a chance of winning. On the other hand, the candidate the Republicans won could play a useful role by bringing out issues in the debates. Keyes might be good for that.
Keyes would be a great replacement, if this was Maryland.
Well, I would volunteer to run,......but I ain't leavin Texas!!!!
Contact Alan Keyes and urge him to run:
E-mail: editor@renewamerica.us
Phone: 202-544-9555
Fax: 202-544-8775
Many people, especially on the left, find Alan Keyes funny. One Maureen Dowd column suggested that Keyes sounds like Marvin the Martian. Others have been less kind. "Hectoring megalomaniac," "shrill fanatic," "paranoid egoist," "Harold Stassen on steroids"—these are labels that stick easily to the frenetic moralist.
And no wonder. At various stops along the primary trail, Keyes has referred to the U.S. government and George Bush as "massa," compared abortion and taxes to slavery, and accused the media of "racism" for not taking his candidacy as seriously as Keyes himself does. In these puerile outbursts, Keyes actually achieved something remarkable—a racial mugging delivered by a religious conservative reminiscent of the Sharpton left.
I do not find Alan Keyes particularly funny. I find him angry, hysterical and mean-spirited—which is pretty much a voter's-eye view. All that keeps Keyes from attaining Sharptonesque proportions as a public menace is his political irrelevance. Unlike Sharpton, Keyes has no following of resentful radicals and hate-whitey blacks that is large enough to affect the direction of his party or, given the right circumstances, provoke mayhem in the streets.
Keyes' audience does contain a cohort of moral zealots, but his main constituency consists of pale-faced conservatives so desperate for a black face to defend them against radical attacks that they don't seem to appreciate the way in which their candidate himself is a radical.
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