Keyes balks at
opposing Obama
The Maryland resident and
former candidate for president
weighs an Illinois GOP offer
CHICAGO >> Illinois Republican leaders asked two-time presidential hopeful Alan Keyes yesterday to be their Senate candidate, but like a string of previous possibilities, Keyes said he needed a few days to think about it.
Keyes told a news conference last night that he would make an announcement by Sunday.
"If I do step forward to pick up that challenge, I will be laying a lot on the line in terms of what I have tried to do in this country," he said.
It has been a laborious six-week search as Republicans have sought a candidate willing to tackle the daunting task of taking on Democratic rising star Barack Obama in the Senate race.
Obama was raised in Hawaii and is a Punahou School graduate.
Republican primary winner Jack Ryan dropped his bid amid embarrassing sex-club allegations that surfaced when records from his divorce were unsealed in June.
With Keyes and Obama as the candidates, the already closely watched race to fill the seat of retiring Sen. Peter Fitzgerald would draw more national attention: It would be the first U.S. Senate election with two black candidates representing the major parties, almost assuring Illinois would produce only the fifth black U.S. senator in history.
"I think it's a hopeful sign for the country," Obama said yesterday. "I think obviously when we have 100 U.S. senators and none are African American, that's something that doesn't just trouble African Americans, I think it troubles all Americans."
But Keyes' response that he needed time to consider the offer, and likely talk to national GOP leaders about financial help, was an uneasy echo of the party's experience with previous potential candidates. Party leaders have tried to enlist several big-name candidates -- former governors, state senators, even Chicago Bears great Mike Ditka -- but each ultimately declined.
Obama, a state senator, has a huge head start: He has raised more than $10 million and gave the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention last week.
Keyes, a two-time presidential hopeful, had not even surfaced as a possible contender until early this week.
As the Maryland native arrived for his first face-to-face interview with the committee yesterday, Keyes did not directly say he wanted to run -- he said he was there to consult with the party's leadership about the best way to make sure there was an exchange of ideas.
Asked how he felt about making a Senate run from a state he had never lived in, he responded: "As a matter of principle, I don't think it's a good idea.
"It has to be something where I would be convinced it's not only consonant with federalism as I understand it, but that it's in the best interest of the state and of the nation," Keyes said.
The other finalist interviewed yesterday was Andrea Grubb Barthwell, a Chicago-area physician and former deputy drug czar in the Bush administration.
Keyes, 53, opposes abortion and gay rights, wants to replace the income tax with a national sales tax, thinks parents should be able to send their children to schools that reflect their faith and calls affirmative action a "government patronage program."
The Illinois GOP has less than three months to get its new candidate's name before voters ahead of the Nov. 2 election. Keyes' out-of-state status is more likely to be a campaign issue than a legal issue: State law requires only that he be an Illinois resident by Election Day.
