Keyes' campaign makes stop at SIUE

Edwardsville Intelligencer ^ | 09/17/2004 | Becky Gehlig

[Keyes2000mt]

The Illinois race for U.S. Senate is heating up, and both African-American candidates were campaigning in downstate Illinois Thursday in hopes to win votes from the heartland. Republican candidate Alan Keyes made a stop in Edwardsville to tour the Corn to Ethanol Plant at SIUE and speak with supporters about some of the issues that he feels are important in the upcoming race. Advertisement

Keyes, a Maryland resident until recently, was chosen as the Republican Senate candidate after Jack Ryan dropped out of the race. He is campaigning against Democrat Barack Obama.

The elected will make U.S. history as being the third African-American to hold a Senate seat since Reconstruction.

"It's a good opportunity to let people look past race and look at the fact that the black community is quite complex," Keyes said.

The candidate was quick to explain that while both he and Obama are African-American, the differences between the candidates are clear, particularly when it comes to values.

Keyes, a Roman Catholic, takes a pro-life stand on abortion. He said that Roman Catholic voters have a moral responsibility to not vote for the candidate that supports abortion.

Another key issue for the candidate is free trade. Keyes says he will fight to keep jobs in the United States, particularly mentioning the steel and agricultural industries.

Considered by some an outsider and underdog in the race, Keyes says he has felt very encouraged by the state of Illinois. When asked about how he feels about being the second choice of the Republican party, Keyes said it was just a situation and the Republican party felt it was in the party's best interest to find an out-of-state candidate.

Keyes has the support of many Republican groups throughout Illinois including the SIUE Conservative Student Organization, who showed their support in numbers on Thursday.

CSO President Andrew Kassebaum says that he and many others in the organization strongly support Keyes because of his firm pro-life stand and other values of the Roman Catholic community.

Obama was campaigning in East St. Louis Thursday.

[edpc]

This race is NOT heating up. Keyes has always been the Repub's sacrificial lamb in these kinds of races.

[outlawcam]

It would be nice if, say, the Chicago Tribune or some other MSM rag painted this sort of cheery picture of Alan Keyes. Their treatment of him and his words is atrocious.

It's good to hear that Keyes is going around to drum up support. Can't wait until the debates. When will they be held?

[righton granny]

The Chicago Tribune was instrumental in getting Ryan's divorce papers revealed, so don't hold your breath for anything positive coming from them - or the Sun-Times.

Keyes' campaign will prove to be a thorn in the side of Rev. Jesse Jackass and his followers. Why, if Keyes wins, the Rev. might actually have to go out and get a real job!

What I'm most afraid of is if we get another dumbdem in, we may lose AG Pat Fitzgerald, who's been the only one in decades who's had the independence and guts to prosecute all our "outstanding" pols and their cronies.

IMO, this state sucks - pols from both sides of the aisle scratch each other's back and as a consequence, all we end up with is debt and probably more pols and former pols making license plates than any other state.

All I can do is work, contribute, and politic as much as I can.