Illinois GOP Should Skip the Senate Race

When Jack Ryan was unfairly forced from the race for the Illinois seat in the US Senate for being more sexually adventurous than a Mormon elder, the Republican party discovered that it might lose the seat. When Barack Obama got the Democratic Convention on its feet, it knew that it had lost. Now, the party is in a mad dash to find anybody to take on the Democrats' newest rising star -- so desperate as to offer the job to loony, non-resident Alan Keyes. A far better idea is to let Obama win without a GOP challenger, and play the negative campaign game using the Libertarians as a front.

This is a hard idea to sell nationally, given that the Senate is Republican by a single vote. Losing this seat currently held by retiring Republican Peter Fitzgerald, means the GOP will not have control of the Senate if other races pan out the way the Republican National Committee expects. That would be extremely bad, but far worse for the Republicans would be letting Obama beat a weak candidate. He is already being mentioned as presidential material, and at 42, he has all kinds of time to make that run. At the end of a second Kerry term, he'd be 50.

But Jerry Kohn, the Libertarian candidate, offers the GOP a stalking horse for this problem of theirs. First off, Mr. Kohn is a story that 527 organizations friendly to the Republicans can sell. A teacher by profession and not a politician, he can tap into the hostility most folks in the state, and indeed the country, feel for politicians. And because his campaign team consists mainly of him and his wife, taking the agenda over will be easy. If there is any dirt on Mr. Obama, it can be thrown in the name of Mr. Kohn, not a Republican.

Instead, the GOP will likely convince Mr. Keyes to accept its offer. This will only build Mr. Obama's credibility. A nationally known figure, even if a crack-pot, makes a better conquest. Beating Mr. Keyes 60-40 is likely and far more impressive that beating Jerry "Who's He" Kohn by 80-20.

Mr. Keyes only qualification in this race as far as one can tell is his African ancestry. Apparently, the GOP feels that running a black man from Maryland is a better candidate than picking someone of any ethnicity from Illinois. What a sad commentary of a state that calls itself the Land of Lincoln.


© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.


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