Posted on 08/09/2004 7:43:52 AM PDT by churchillbuff
Alan Keyes strode onto the Illinois stage Sunday and began one of the speeches of a lifetime with two little words: "Thank you."
"Thank YOU!" the crowd roared with gratitude at finally having a GOP candidate for U.S. Senate.
Keyes, a Maryland resident, doesn't even have a home here yet, but he boomed dramatically: "I have confidence because the victory is for God."
With the fire of a general ordering his troops into the valley of death, Keyes promised "a battle like this nation has never seen," and an ongoing debate unequalled since Lincoln vs. Douglas.
Keyes stirred the crowd of party faithful, anti-abortion activists and homeschoolers with a speech that started with media-bashing and hit strong on the issues where he considers Democratic challenger Barack Obama vulnerable: gun rights and abortion.
Keyes said he was initially reluctant to enter the race, but "what finally arrested my attention and forced me to consider . . . was when I learned that [Obama] had actually in April 2002 apparently cast a vote that would continue to allow live-birth abortions in the state of Illinois."
Keyes was tapped by state Republican leaders after GOP candidate Jack Ryan folded his campaign amid allegations he once took his wife to sex clubs. Keyes' entrance sets up a contest between two candidates at opposite ends of the political spectrum. It also marks the first time in the nation's history that both parties have fielded an African-American candidate for a major statewide office.
But before Keyes took the stage Sunday to accept the challenge, he had a quick meeting with some of the state's top Republican leaders.
"What do I need to know?'' he asked the group, according to a top Republican source. "I'm the outsider. You tell me. I want to hear -- what do people of this state care about?''
Keyes, a conservative talk show host who has made two failed attempts at the presidency, has just over two months to figure that out -- something he is vowing to do.
He flew into Chicago Saturday night -- his 54th birthday. Over the weekend Keyes met both with white voters in the suburbs and African Americans on the city's South Side. Keyes spent the night at the South Side home of Hiram Crawford Jr., a second-generation activist in the movement opposing abortion and gay rights.
A Roman Catholic, Keyes attended mass at Holy Name Cathedral Sunday morning before visiting St. Mark's Missionary Baptist Church in Harvey. He also ate a Denver omelette at one of Chicago's quintessential breakfast spots -- Lou Mitchell's in the Loop.
Obama, a state senator who was in Toronto visiting a sister with a newborn, welcomed Keyes to the race by issuing a prepared statement inviting him to engage in a race free from attacks. But the Keyes candidacy was strongly criticized by Democratic leaders, who questioned his understanding and loyalty to Illinois.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) accused the Illinois Republican Party of allowing itself to be "hijacked'' by an extreme base after it foundered to find someone to challenge an impressive Obama, who charged out of the primary with 53 percent of the vote and whose popularity spiked after his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention.
"I think they were desperate,'' Durbin said at a news conference. "I think they were overtaken by a faction of the party. . . . Alan Keyes doesn't represent the Republican wing, he represents the right wing of the right wing of the party.''
But his message Sunday was well-received by a crowd of about 375 people at an old-time political rally at the Wellington Restaurant in Arlington Heights. Keyes spoke in a packed, sweltering room filled with adulation and the circus-like atmosphere of a bumptious political race. One elderly woman even collapsed after his speech -- and was attended to by losing primary candidate Dr. Chirinjeev Kathuria.
"It's like [Keyes] was reading from the National Republican platform," said Raymond True, chair of the Republican Assembly of Lake County. Keyes, he said, "hit all the ideological high points."
In fact, Republican Jim Oberweis, who flanked Keyes onstage along with other GOP candidates who lost in the primary to Ryan, called the race with Obama no less than "a debate between good on the right and evil on the left."
Durbin, however, criticized this "divisive'' approach to politics, saying Obama instead has the ability to talk to residents about jobs, health care and other local and regional challenges.
"Alan Keyes is in the dark,'' he said. "It would be very difficult to serve in the Senate with someone who couldn't find the counties of the state with a road map.''
Keyes answered the drumbeat of criticism about his residency by repeatedly invoking Illinois' embrace of Kentuckian and fellow Republican Abraham Lincoln.
By principles alone, he said, "I've lived in the Land of Lincoln all my life, and I will be proud to call Illinois my home.''
Meanwhile, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) launched an attack against Obama, his strongest to date, during an interview Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." He accused Obama of voting against stiffer penalties for drug use, drug dealing and for people who kill emergency workers in the line of duty.
Yes, you are crazy, but move over. I will be bunking next to you in the looney bin.
Alan Keyes is Sea Biscuit. This could be an exciting come from behind story. Alan Keyes will bring a lot of positve attention to the conservative movement and I think people want to see a horserace.
The great thing about this is that it is a win-win situation. Win or lose, Keyes will eloquently articulate the principles of the Republican Party. He is a brilliant speaker and a classy guy. We will all be proud of him, no matter what the outcome.
I sure understand your position and a few years ago felt the same; however, the 'rats and media play dirty, cheat/lie & committ massive voter fraud. Unless we fight fire with fire, we are doomed to lose with no hope for success. It's nice to think in utopian terms, but like al queda who ignore the "rules of war", we gotta get real ala Ann Coulter's verbal lashings.
Word is that there will be six Lincoln/Douglas type debates. Of course they will be televised.
Quite a few, it seems from the angry anti-Keyes posts. Especially from neo-con types, the folks who switched from Democrat because of national security issues and whose preoccupation right now is the war in Iraq. This is curious, because Keyes, I believe, supports that war. But for some reason the neocons still despise him. It may show that they really aren't conservative after all, they really didn't change that much when they left the Dem party.
I hope he has a shot. If nothing else, it will be beneficial for him to lay out the differences between a conservative and an old-line liberal like Obama. Will there be televised debates? Further, it shows that the Illinois Republicans are not just laying down and conceding. Make Obama work and make the Dems spend money. As for the carpetbagging charge, Keyes will have to address that.
Couldn't agree more.
Alan is a class act, unlike his enemies.
Interesting that people here are quoting Lincoln as was he was a unionist and certainly not in the camp of state's rights.
and this year the Cubs will win the World series..
You and I are in disagreement. Alan Keyes himself was a very vocal critic of HRC. As far as I'm concerned, his credibility has taken a severe hit. He should have said no. The Republicans in Illinois made their own bed by pushing Ryan out of the race. They supported a very corrupt governor. They have made hash of things in their own state. They should not have asked Keyes, and he should have passed.
The Republican Party has always stood for preserving The Union and individual freedom. Those bedrock principles have never changed.
GOD bless Alan Keyes
Those are two seperate ideas. I did say she was a carpetbagger, but said at the time what she was doing was perfectly legal and the people of New York could decide if they wanted her.
I also thought anyone who voted for her was an imbecile, but least of all because she was a carpetbagger. I thought they were imbeciles for electing an angry, self-serving, militant socialist.
Finally, New York already had a congresswoman who was running and Hillary and her friends forced the woman out of the race. In Illinois the Republicans have not had a candidate for the senate seat for six weeks. Alan Keyes is answering the call.
Alan took up the cause because he believes its too important to let go without a fight. While he's aiding the party, he's running this campaign on his principles, which transcend party.
He does.
If nothing else, it will be beneficial for him to lay out the differences between a conservative and an old-line liberal like Obama.
Absolutely.
Will there be televised debates?
Yes. The word is that Obama has agreed to six.
Further, it shows that the Illinois Republicans are not just laying down and conceding. Make Obama work and make the Dems spend money.
The Party is now united, and will do exactly that. When the word came that they were choosing Alan, Obama abandoned at least one fundraiser in AL to rush back to IL. They are already showing a bunch of signs that they are scared.
As for the carpetbagging charge, Keyes will have to address that.
He already did. It is an irrelevency from yesterday on. Even the press has recognized this. Only fools waste their resources arguing over fait accomplis.
I think Hillary won mostly because Lazio ran a lousy campaign. If Guiliani was able to continue his race against Hillary, she would now be sitting in a Chappaqua bar drowning her sorrows.
What a surprise.
Does this mean all that talk about getting behind the party's candidate was alot of crap, that ideological 'purity' really does matter and these folks can be just as 'unappeasable' as anyone else?
Unlike her collegue Ted Kennedy, who leaves the bar and drowns his drinking partner.
Y3es, you are crazy. Keyes will not win.
That said, I am happy that he is running. He will cut Obama down to size.
Will he agree to 6 now that keyes is the opponent? I think not. Fear.
We're going to lose it anyway. It's just nice that we have found part-time work for Keyes.
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