Ambassador Keyes was completely used. The whole race after Ryan’s departure was a sham and a sideshow. There was a perfectly excellent incumbent Senator by the name of Peter Fitzgerald, but because he was opposed by the IL Combine (a cliquish collusion of corrupt “business as usual” pols from both parties), he had to be run out of office after a single term. Once Ryan, too, was run out after that divorce records business, the IL GOP Combiners were perfectly happy to let Obama waltz into office (just so long as he didn’t threaten their power within the party). Keyes was a joke to them, used to the hilt, as they had zero intention of giving him support to win. They very well could’ve recruited a candidate that could win, but they CHOSE not to. Sadly, the Ambassador was not in on the joke and had no clue he was being used.
I wasn’t in on it either at the time, I went to the big Keyes rally. What a foolish young pup I was. I can’t believe Keyes didn’t realize what a horrible idea it was and that he was dupe.
See the rationale the IL RINOS gave was that they “needed” a black man (or woman some RINO non politician was mentioned) to run against Obama and there were zero black Republicans in the state and they just plum couldn’t find a brother in the whole state so they went to Alan Keyes.
Then they smiled as he was painted as an “ultra-conservative” (which well he’s to my right on some things and he has that image which they knew) and carpetbagger which he was (I could give a crap about that, give me a good senator from anywhere but people outside of NY! care about this).
The party bosses of the Illinois GOP actually made a deal with Berry to let him walk into office and preferred him to anti-corruption Republican Pete Fitzgerald. Deplorable but there is no alternate explanation.
I could have gone to a GOP thing this week but Andy McKenna the party chairman who a was key anti-Fitzgerald figure, (he was gonna run against him in the primary) was there and it cost 15 bucks.