It’s hard to count all the mistakes the Illinois Republican Party made when it selected Maryland’s Alan Keyes to run as its Senate candidate. Party fundraising has been hurt, the down-ballot ripple effect may help Dems in Congress and the state legislature, and, naturally, the GOP has all-but lost a Senate seat that it currently holds.
But let’s not overlook the fact that the Illinois GOP has let Barack Obama off the hook from even having to campaign in his home state anymore. With a 51-point lead in Illinois, Obama is hitting the campaign trail — in Illinois and across the country.
Barack Obama, the Senate candidate from Illinois who made a splash at the Democratic National Convention, may soon be coming to a town near you.
Since giving the keynote address at the DNC in July, Obama has become a sought-after commodity at national party functions and fund-raisers. With polls showing him well ahead in his race against Republican Alan Keyes, the young, Harvard-educated state senator is using his star status to lend a hand to other Democrats.
On Monday alone, Obama is scheduled to fly to Baltimore for his own fund-raiser, then head to Philadelphia to raise money for other Democrats and headline a voter registration rally. Weather permitting, he will end the day in Miami at another get-out-the-vote event.
Republicans in Illinois, in other words, have managed to pick an embarrassing candidate who hurts GOP candidates in their own state and indirectly makes things tougher for Republican candidates in other states.
If Obama had a real opponent, this never would have happened. In the immortal words of Nelson Muntz, “Ha ha.”