The lady considered as a candidate with Keyes was Dr. Andrea Barthwell who had a minor post in the HW Bush administration. I believe she is RINO but at least she lived in the state for years.
The replacement for Ryan should have been State Sen Rauschenberger who placed third in the primary after Ryan and super loser Jim Oberdouche.
I liked Jack Ryan, poor guy, maybe the only politician in history brought down by a sex scandal involving his own wife. I wonder what he’s doing now.
He probably left the state like Fitzgerald. Our candidate for Cook County Board President last year recently fled to Texas.
>> The replacement for Ryan should have been State Sen Rauschenberger who placed third in the primary after Ryan and super loser Jim Oberdouche. <<
I wasted alot of time getting excited about Dikta's "potential" candidacy (I think most of us did), but by the time a month had gone by with no replacement, it was pretty clear Obama had it in the bag. At that point, I just suggested "moderate Republican" General John Borling (who came in 5th in the primary) as the sacrifical lamb. He'd run a respectable campaign that would at least force Obama to stick to his own race, and Borling wouldn't have been a factor in future races. Instead, we had to pick between Keyes and Barthwell, and the rest was history.
It's amusing how the people who insist Oberweis "shoulda been nominated" will swear to this day that they ONLY supported him because he had the most money and was polling best, and claim that fandom for Oberweis is NEVER a factor in him finishing 2nd place all the time. Oberweis, despite never having any type of political record, elected or appointed, is now a state central committeeman in the IL GOP. That's the second highest position in the party after chairman, as the 19 committeemen make all the decisions for the state party by weighted vote (in many cases, you could argue Oberweis has even more clout than the chairman since he represents a safe GOP heavy district and thus carries a huge percentage of the weighted vote). I guess the "Oberweis wuz wobbed" folks would have us believe he got that post simply because he walked into the state party office one day, gave a speech, and wowed them with such incredible abilities to the point where they filled the slot immediately and offered him the job. After all, he has NO fans left in the state GOP, right? ;-)
>> I liked Jack Ryan, poor guy, maybe the only politician in history brought down by a sex scandal involving his own wife. I wonder what he’s doing now. He probably left the state like Fitzgerald. Our candidate for Cook County Board President last year recently fled to Texas.
Last I heard, Jack Ryan donated $2000 to Eric Wallace in the 2010 primary for U.S. Senate, before Wallace was hounded out of the race by conservative "leaders" who proclaimed Patrick Hughes was "more credible" (aren't we glad we listened to these "leaders" in 2010, unlike 2006 where we didn't the buy the "Oberweis is the only acceptable conservative" claims?) So I'm guessing Jack Ryan is still living in Illinois.
I must admit things look pretty bleak now though. I think all wings of the IL GOP (except combiners like Kirk and Topinka) are proven losers... that goes for our squishy "moderates", and our "conservative leaders" who keep finding unknown zillionaires with no campaign skills. I must pledge guilty here as well, I supported Maria Rodriquez in the 8th district primary last year, and for a while I "wrote off" Joe Walsh as having no chance against Melissa Bean. He was one of the few bright spots and big upsets last year, and he's since proven to be one of best new tea party conservatives. You could make a credible case that Walsh has been the best of the five new GOP freshmen from Illinois, period.
I agree that Sen. Rauschenberger should have replaced Jack Ryan, as the U.S. Senate nominee. Before that election, four of the last five U.S. senators, from Illinois, were state legislators. Those four were Peter Fitzgerald, Carol Moseley Braun, Alan Dixon, and Paul Simon. The exception is Dick Durbin. The 2004 primary had eight Republicans, and Rauschenberger was the only state senator, in that race.
A few months ago, I read that Jack Ryan lived in Winnetka or Wilmette.