So the Illinois GOP has asked Alan Keyes to run for Senate against Barack Obama.
Keyes told a news conference Wednesday night that he would make an announcement by Sunday.
“If I do step forward to accept this challenge, I will be laying it all on the line,” he said.
Sweeeeeeet. Of course, as ArchPundit reminds us, Keyes is probably taking the time to determine if he can spin his way out of something he said about another candidate who moved to a new state in order to run for the Senate:
“I deeply resent the destruction of federalism represented by Hillary Clinton’s willingness go into a state she doesn’t even live in and pretend to represent people there, so I certainly wouldn’t imitate it.
I await with bated breath his final answer. I suspect if he does run it’ll be along the lines of “It was wrong for Hillary to do it, but it’s totally different for me.”
So-Called Austin Mayor has a theory as to why the Illinois GOP would ask Keyes to take on this mission. It’s a bit conspiracy-theoryish, so take it for what it’s worth.
Continuing on the Alan Keyes Greatest Hits Parade, Josh Marshall recalls Keyes’ Michael Moore-sponsored mosh pit dive (wonderful quote by Moore: “We knew Alan Keyes was insane. We just didn’t know how insane until that moment.”); TBogg notes that Keyes has made a pretty good living out of his runs for public office; and Byron points out that Keyes lost by a 71-29 margin to Barbara Mikulski in 1992.
So there’s your potential standard-bearer, Illinois Republicans. All I can say is thanks for making the Texas Democrats look good.
UPDATE: Dwight is also rooting for a Keyes candidacy.
I’m beginning to feel like there’s an elephant in the blogospere around this whole Keyes bit…why isn’t anyone pointing out that the Republican Party would bring out the tradtional “our opponents are just playing the race card” schtick if the tables were reversed? Sure, Keyes is a nutcase and there’s lots of fun stories about him to go around. Nevertheless, isn’t it going to be more significant in the long term that the “race blind” Republican Party was clearly using a race-based measuring stick when they asked Keyes to be their candidate? As far as I’m concerned, this effectively eliminates the strength of their “race card” argument for good.
What do you think?