Unintended consequences - an Obama Presidency due to Republican sex scandel

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

Not my original thought, but one I heard voiced today on a local talk radio station.

Barack Obama would have never won the race for Senator in Illinois if his Republican "family values" opponent, Jack Ryan, had not had to drop out once his extremely ugly divorce from his sci-fi actress wife Jeri was made public.

A butterfly in China . . . or,

A Republican Senate Candidate in Illinois . . . .

[tritsofme]

1. Obama was still the favorite in that race.

Ryan was probably a formidable candidate, but he would have likely lost on his last name alone.

Hynes was probably a greater threat to him in the primary.

[Tweed]

2. You must not be from Illinois

[anigbrowl]

3. I'm not, but I have thought of this a few times...

...because I remember the minor scandal at the time. They substituted him with Alan Keyes, right?

Does this mean that Obama's candidacy is actually a Borg plot? It would fit in the the cult meme people have been spreading around!

[apnu]

19. Yeah Alan Keyes carpetbagged his way in there, but only after...

... the IL GOP flirted with Mike Ditka. I kid you not.

Ryan made is a circus, and the IL GOP was all to willing to continue it after he left in shame.

Man, I love IL politics, every day something amusing happens.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

4. I'm not. Maybe the person I heard was all wet.

It was such a compelling theory. Oh well. . . .

[mopinko]

6. no kidding.

it wasn't a sex scandal, really, tho. ryan was muscled out to let keyes in, because they couldn't get a gay marriage amendment on the ballot here. alan keyes was the next best thing.
it is probably true that ryan would have done better, but he wouldn't have won. at any rate, that is the republican strategy failing, not a sex scandal.

[JPZenger]

7. Keyes was a joke of an opponent

Once Keyes came in, the election was not hard to win. If I remember correctly, Keyes had little connection to Illinois, and was living in Maryland. Also, Keyes is not the most level-headed person in the world.

[Olney Blue]

10. I'm still baffled that the GOP sent Alan Keyes there. He was so weak-

crazy, almost.

[mopinko]

15. because they couldn't get gay marriage on the ballot.

that was the strategy nationwide. it didn't work here. putting keyes on the ballot served the same purpose. they were plenty of viable republican candidate around. they wanted to play the homophobe card.
personally, i think that the reason for that was to explain away all the vapor votes, but whatever, that is what they did.

[Olney Blue]

17. Worked out well for them, didn't it?

:evilgrin:

[mopinko]

25. not here, but

then, i don't think they weren't able to steal as many votes as they were in other places. :shrug:

[Eric J in MN]

21. I really doubt that the Republicans thought Alan Keyes...

...would bring more conservatives to the polls than Jack Ryan.

[mopinko]

23. i didn't say they did.

i think it was about a cover story for vote fraud. they had to have something to answer to the question- where did all these bush votes come from?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

12. I think it was most definitely a sex scandel.

Google Ryan, senate race, Illinois and its all sex/divorce scandel coverage right away.

[mopinko]

13. i live here.

i don't need to google. it was a smoke screen.

[dansolo]

14. You've got it all wrong

You are right in that it wasn't a sex scandal, per se. His sealed divorce records were leaked, and in them his ex-wife claimed that he would take her to sex clubs and wanted to have sex with her in front of other people, which she objected to. But they didn't push him out for Alan Keyes. Keyes came in after they couldn't find anyone else to run. After Ryan dropped out, they could have gone with Rauschenberger, who came in second in the primary, but for some reason the IL GOP didn't want him as a candidate. He would have still probably lost to Obama. It was quite amuzing watching the Republicans self-destruct. First they tried to recruit Mike Ditka, figuring that he would be another Schwarzenegger, but he imploded almost as soon as he considered running, and quickly dropped off the radar. After that they tried to recruit a number of people, all of whom passed.

[mopinko]

27. my recollection

is that there was a faction that wanted keyes from the get go. other, slightly more sane people, did drag the river for a warm body. but they had to have a fat wallet in addition to a pulse.
you know, there was a day when being a republican in illinois did not mean that you were crazy. hell, judy barr used to be a pretty level headed person. then came bushco.

[JPZenger]

5. He was a popular State Senator

Obama was a highly popular State Senator. Also, Illinois has elected many Dems to the US Senate over the years, including the only African American woman to ever serve in the Senate, Carol Mosely Braun.

[juno jones]

8. My sis is from Obama's original legislative dist.

I've been hearing enthusiastic things about him for years. As for Ryan, that was him taking the fall for years of repub mismanagement of the state and particularly the governor's office. I lived in Springfield thru a lot of it and it came as no surprise. the repups had finally shot themselves in the foot in IL and the dems were (happily) able to take advantage.

You are acting as if it's a bad thing. Republican run Springfield sucked.

[Alexander]

9. Obama was 20% ahead of Ryan before the sex scandal broke.

I don't buy this.

[Iceburg]

11. Fitzgerald took him down ... same guy that's prosecuting the Rezko case./nt

[dansolo]

16. That was George Ryan (no relation)

Part of Jack Ryan's problem was that he had the same name as the scandal-ridden Governor.

[mopinko]

26. yup nt

[Ian David]

18. You will be fornicated. Resistance is futile.

Jack Ryan's wife was 6 of 9, you know.

[Eric J in MN]

20. Illinois' other US Senator is a Democrat, and...

...Kerry beat Bush there by 55 to 44.

Obama certainly had a good chance even if his first opponent didn't drop out.

[Hippo_Tron]

22. By the same logic, Hillary's candidacy could be due to Giuliani's cancer diagnosis

I think Obama would've wiped the floor with Jack Ryan and Hillary probably would've beaten Giuliani.

[Johnny__Motown]

24. That isn't true, Jack Ryan could easily have lost.