The Keyes Impact

The Chicago Trib has a new poll showing Obama leading Keyes by about 40 points. More interesting is the finding that Keyes is hurting Republican candidates for state legislature:

The poll suggests that Keyes' candidacy could hurt other Republicans in local and legislative races. Nearly three in ten voters said they were less likely to back GOP candidates because of the way party leaders went about settling on Keyes as their candidate, though 59 percent said it would make no difference.

This is true even among Republicans:

Only half of voters who identified themselves as Republicans said they approved of his selection by GOP leaders to replace Ryan.