You would be mistaken. Keyes and Obama debated several times during the 2004 race. The results were predicatble. Keyes wowed the faithful but failed to persuade anyone outside of his base, while Obama for good or bad managed to convince IL voters that he was the man.
I get that people respect Keyes for his principled stands on the issues that define him. However, I don’t get the notion that Keyes is even a mediocre politician by any stretch. He his not. He excites his base, but has zero pull outside of that group. The public at large is rarely impressed by Keyes’ dogmatic approach.
Lest you think this is one man’s opinion, I point you to the humiliating electoral poundings by Democrats that define Keyes’ political career. 38% against Sarbanes, 29% against Mikulski, a humbling presidential primary showing in 2000, 27% against Obama in the 2004 IL senate race, and let us not forget his 2008 bid where his BEST showing was less than 3% in North Carolina.
The media takes up the "Uncle Tom" mantra promoted by 90% of blacks and 100% of Democrats. That's why black conservatives have such a hard time getting elected.