Well, it is very easy to see what happened. The GOP leaders felt Keyes was unelectable and too conservative to garner those middle of the road voters needed to win the 2000 election. So they didn't give him their support.
Well DUH! Should they have supported a sure loser? NO one pulled GOP primary voters to the polls with a gun pointed at their heads to force a vote for Bush. Keyes has had a radio show for years has been on television countless times and is NOT shy about his positions. Give me a break! Like Buchanan it is not the Keyes message it is the messenger. Now, I will give Keyes this, he stayed in the fight and he participated in the debates. That was a sharp contrast to PJB, who also could have fought for the nomination and debated Bush on the issues but chose the money, switched parties and then had the unmitigated gall to whine that he was excluded from the debates.