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.
Someone should hand Obama a map and ask him where Williamson County is.
He already did.
In fact, it may surprise you to know that it was Obama himself who offered to do six Lincoln/Douglas debates.
He's arrogant and over-confident.
Obama pushed a bill requiring that those convicted of a capital crime could not be executed unless they CONFESSED. That is just the tip of the iceberg. Just another far-left wacko, albeit a well-spoken wacko.
The defeatist's mantra.
Why Keyes felt duty bound to enter this long shot of a race.
I WAS AT THE RALLY!! I also took 2 friends, BOY we are fired up and I am gonna work my ass off for KEYES!!!
On another happy note.....
""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." ""
Jim Oberweis has been the lone voice in the wilderness of candidates speaking out on ILLEGAL Immigration issues and getting trashed for being a so called racist.
I have been his vigilant supporter and he approached me at the KEYES rally and said" I want to thank you personally for all that you have done for me I really appeciate it."
BOY, That made it all worth it. He is a great stand up guy, Humble enough to realize he needs folks. I was really touched, I didn't think he noticed!!
You're so right.
Obama also voted for a bill that would have made legal the killing of born, breathing babies.
He's a whacko.
Might be fun, for the osama of illinois politics to defend the osama of world politics, BTW can you image the face of little dickie if he has to introduce Alan as the junior senator from illinois.
These locations were: Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg, Quincy, and Alton.
Never happen.
Exactly.
It was great!
Wish I could have met you there!
<< Alan Keyes [Now of] Illinois is [WAY] better than Hillary Clinton .... [Who never was but] a lousy carpetbaggger .... Anyone who voted for her was an imbecile.
How can we now support Keyes? .... [Why --]
just because he's in the GOP [AND IS] .... a decent Republican ... >>
Get real.
This is the United States of America and if you or I can live anywhere we damned well chose -- then so can Mr Keyes -- one of America's finest Men -- and a Republican Party Giant!
God bless him and guide his passage into the United states Senate!
I know Keyes used to have strong principles. One of them was pointing out the audacity of HRC to run for Senate in a state she did not reside in. I guess some principles are more important than others.
Is this a veiled reference to Alan's skin tone???
Yes, some principles are more important than others. You're just learning this?
Keyes won't be representing anyone. He's going to lose and lose big. My problem isn't with him, I like him, it's with the hypocrisy of Republicans. We accuse the Dimwitocrats of dirty tactics and then we engage in the same practices. Everyone who got up on their moral high horse and denounced Hillary should say the same about Keyes. If you don't, you're no better than the opposition. I didn't like it when she ran in New York and I won't support him in Illinois.
This used to be called having principles. Unfortunately, having honor and principles has no place in modern politics. It's win at any cost and screw everything you are supposed to believe in.
Fortunately, I won't ever have to vote for a Marxist. In Arizona we have plenty of Republicans. Too bad Illinois seems to have a shortage.
Why would Keyes be a carpetbagger when MS. Rodham settled this to liberal's satisfaction four years ago?
That's fine for them. They are hypocrites, so that means we should be, too? Count me out.
I am a big fan of Keyes as well. Unfortunately, I'm trying to be realistic here and think he has no chance in hell of actually winning this race. I haven't seen early polling on this, but I just don't think a relatively liberal state like Illinois would ever support a staunch conservative like Keyes. We can all dream though...
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