All Keyes, All of the Time

Steve is probably right that Keyes will run, but I still think there is something fishy. First, why didn't Keyes say yes when offered the job? The official answer is that he wants to have time to organize a announcement "rally" on Sunday. By "rally" we're talking 100 people in the Prairie Lounge at the O'Hare Airport Marriott. You don't need 5 days to organize that. Second, why does Keyes keep insisting on getting support from Hastert? Again, it's probably the money. But do Hastert and other Illinois GOP bigwigs really want Keyes to run? The same Sun-Times columnists points out that the Keyes selection fits into the moderate-conservative split in the Illinois GOP and that the latter see Keyes as a chance to pick up state legislative seats downstate. I'm not sure Hastert wants to come down on the side of the conservatives or that he (along with any sane person) thinks Keyes will actually help the GOP ticket. On the other hand, he does want to have a candidate if only to end the circus.

My guess is that Keyes wanted a couple of days to haggle with Hastert and others in the Illinois GOP over just how much support he'll get. Keyes might be crazy, but he's no fool. In the end, he'll probably get enough for him to run, but that's not 100% certain. Hasterts comments thus far have been pretty ambivalent.

BTW, yes, Keyes does have a Harvard Ph.D., but when you have to use the title of your talk show to aver that you are, in fact, "making sense," it doesn't say good things about your mental state.