Illinois GOP Skips Keyes in Promotion

[Khephra]

CHICAGO -- The Illinois Republican Party left U.S. Senate candidate Alan Keyes off a campaign mailer that touted "Your 2004 Republican Team," but both sides insist the omission was not a snub.

The promotion, which doubled as an absentee ballot application, went to hundreds of thousands of homes and mentioned President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and candidates in congressional and legislative races.

GOP leaders said Keyes was not included in the mailer because he planned to send out comparable materials.

"People are reading too much into this," Illinois GOP spokesman Jason Gerwig told the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday. "We did our mailing and congressional candidates helped coordinate it. The Keyes campaign is doing its own thing."

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-illinois-gop-keyes,0,2959931.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[Norquist Nemesis]

1. Where is Keyes getting his funding?

No one has explained this...are the fundies backing him that well off?

[MGKrebs]

5. Well, according to Newslax, I mean Newsmax...

"In just seven weeks, the Keyes campaign raised $1,349,679 from 20,176 individual contributors and *ONLY FIVE* PACs and political party committees. The individual contributions accounted for $1,309,015 -- a stunning 97 PERCENT. And when you divide the total amount contributed by the number of contributions, you learn that the average contribution to the Keyes for Senate campaign was a remarkably low $65 per donor -- more evidence of a TRUE grassroots campaign."

[MrBenchley]

2. Who dat man?

Too too funny....

[aquart]

3. They brought him in and won't acknowledge him? Pathetic.

[David__77]

4. Hilarious!

They would have been better off disowning him, but they couldn't really do that after drafting him, could they? I honestly don't know what they were thinking. I suspect that the "moderates" allowed the rightists to hang themselves by giving them what they wanted. Now they can say for years and years to come, "Illinois won't elect a conservative."

I hope "Alan Keyes Republican" becomes a new term.

[zbdent]

6. Has he even been there yet?

I know that, according to Illinois law, it seems that he can wait until he's elected to actually fake a residence there, right?

[cubsfan forever]

9. Last I heard Obama was leading by

78%-21%, so there is no danger for The Crazy One having to relocate to Illinois, just move his sorry butt back to Maryland.

Professor 2

[Roy]

11. 78%-21% is that all??

I am truly ashamed of my neighbors to the East.

Come on guys you can at least get this up to 80%.

[davidinalameda]

7. will he finally go back under his rock

once he loses this race

[xultar]

8. R U Kidding, the rock even left his ass. n/t

[davsand]

10. My GOP parents got that mailing.

I about fell over when I was looking at it...

They save all the campaign lit they get and give it to me. The one that REALLY tickled me was the Keyes window banner that the IL GOP mailed out. It was a slip of four color printed paper that had instructions on how to scotch tape it to the inside of your car window.

My ordinarily Republican Dad just delighted me when we were talking about Keyes. He looked at me and asked, "Have you met this Obama?" I told him yes, I had met Obama, and I think he's pretty fantastic. Dad says, "I won't vote for Keyes. I have no idea what the Republicans were thinking when they imported him." He also commented that even if Obama has a funny name, he seems to have some good ideas.

That whole exchange pretty much sums up a lot of the GOP attitude about Keyes here locally. I do see some Keyes signs in yards, but a LOT of the Republicans I have talked to have made the comment that Obama seems to make a lot of sense. Obama has been demonized as being too liberal (by Keyes) but it seems like a lot of the ordinarily conservative GOP voters have told me that they think Obama is making some good points and has a lot of good common sense ideas.


Laura

[SoCalDem]

12. The IL GOP would have been better off to leave the original slimeball

on the ticket, or just run no one.. Keyes is an embarrassment .. But hey..it's OK with me :)

[lil-petunia]

13. Has any state party disavowed all knowledge of its candidate before?

This has to be a first in the country.

But given the rock and roll that led to Keyes' appointment, whew, what a long strange trip it's been.

[nixonwasbetterthanW]

14. Keyes comments on Mary Cheney didn't go over well

In the brochure draft, Alan's top talking points included the following:

"Mary Cheney is a Satan lover who will burn in hell for her sexual proclivities. If elected, my first legislation will be to call for a federal quarantine of all homosexuals so as to save the next generation."

Lynn Cheney saw this draft and, after careful deliberation that included pow-wows with Henry Hyde adn several days of trail ballooning to check out its possible effect on the electorate, said Keyes might best do his own GOTV.