Election will become another GOP circus
Initially the idea of holding a special election to fill the junior senator from Illinois' seat sounds great, until one thinks about the three-ring circus run by the Illinois Republican Party during the 2004 election.
After an outraged GOP withdrew support for him, Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald decides not to run for re-election. Illinois Republicans see an opportunity to nominate a candidate who, unlike Fitzgerald, will blindly support each and every piece of legislation backed by George Bush.
This is before being a "maverick" became fashionable.
A divisive primary ends with Jack Ryan as the GOP white knight. Ryan runs an aggressive campaign against Democrat Barack Obama that soon finds some of Ryan's own supporters questioning his tactics.
The issue becomes moot when details of Ryan's marriage to, and eventual divorce from, actress Jeri Ryan are made public. Jack Ryan drops out.
The Illinois Republican Party scrambles to find another candidate and suddenly Mike Ditka's name begins being heard.
It looks like the Illinois Republican Party has no control over what is happening, but it does and it actually finds a way to make things worse.
The Illinois Republican Party finally announces its replacement candidate for U.S. Senator. It is not the primary's runner-up Jim Oberweis, but Alan Keyes. The fact that Keyes lives in Maryland and cannot tell the Cubs from the White Sox does not faze Republicans a bit. Keyes comes to Illinois and campaigns against Barack Obama. The campaign is a national joke and Keyes loses to Obama by a landslide.
There is little to no evidence that the Illinois Republican Party learned anything from this, and I must ask the question: Do we, the people of Illinois, want to be humiliated again? It might be less expensive and more dignified to let a new governor or acting governor fulfill the Illinois Constitution as written.
Bill Pohnan Jr.
Streamwood