You've nailed it. When he was running for Pres. in 2000, the media went out of their way to avoid covering his candidacy. I recall one article from the NYT, I think, in which all of the other 7 candidates were discussed extensively, including the total non-entity Ralph Reed, but they only mentioned Alan Keyes in the list of 8. Nothing else, just his name. In spite of being shunned by the media, he once appreared on Larry King with George W Bush and Al Gore. He was brilliant and managed to steer the conversation into areas the MSM would never approach.
Alan Keyes would be an excellent choice as McCain's running mate, provided he could learn to tone down his rhetoric a little. It's too bad that he wouldn't get to debate Obama--That would be something to see.
He already ran against Obama in 04 Illinois and got 27%. I could do better than that, even in Illinois.