Alan Keyes has been recruited by the Republicans to run against Illinois State Senator Barack Obama for the US Senate. After former Governor Jack Ryan dropped out of the race because of divorce disclosures of a sexual nature, the Republicans were unable to muster a credible candidate who would or could challenge the young and brilliant Barack Obama.

Alan Keyes, you will remember, is a Black Republican Conservative and a former ambassador to the UN and under Secretary of State under the Reagan Administration, who twice ran for the US Presidency and twice for US Senate on the Republican ticket--both times he was defeated; while running he declared that there was discrimination in the treatment he received while running. He actually lives in Maryland.

After not being able to find anyone in Illinois who was credible and willing to run against Obama, the Republicans went outside of the state and came up with Alan Keyes, a candidate whom they feel is a loser, but since he is willing to run and is Black, the Republicans are interested to see how he will do.

Alan Keyes has stated that he will not move to this state where he has no money and run unless the Republican Party supports him financially. So he comes into this race with no money and no base of support, other than the national Republican Party, which he has stated offered him no support in the past.

It is difficult to understand how Mr. Keyes, reputed to be an intelligent man, allows himself to be placed against the rising star of Barack Obama, an almost sure winner, simply because no one else would accept their call--that should tell him something. Seemingly that reputed intelligence or just self-respect would have counseled him against accepting the Republicans' call, especially after the way they treated him in his past campaigns. But no such values seem present within him. Or is there something more to this?

Isn't Alan Keyes employed, won't he have to disrupt his family and move to Illinois where he is sure to be cited as a carpet bagger in the classic sense of the word? Wasn't it Alan Keyes who criticized Mrs. Clinton, now Senator Clinton, for moving from the White House after the end of the second term of President Bill Clinton (her husband) to New York to run for US Senator? Wasn't it Alan Keyes who, only last week, said that he dislikes the idea of a person moving from one state to another to run for office? What could possibly be his motivation for getting into a race where he has no base? Should an intelligent man trust the Republican Party? Shouldn't he have talked with Ahmed Chalabi, once a darling of neo-cons and this Republican Administration, before making such a decision? Or Colin Powell who was once of rock star status in the US before going into the Republication Bush Administration? Or is there something more to this?

Mr. Keyes' acceptance of the Republicans' call indicates that there is no shortage of Black Conservatives to march to the beat of an uncaring Republican drumbeat. Keyes has experienced the stench of Republican dislike and disrespect for Blacks--he should have talked to Colin Powell, whose career this Bush Administration has destroyed, if he had forgotten it--yet he, seemingly, cannot believe that the party of Lincoln will continue their practices; after all, the Republicans came to him for help, or was it to him to be a sacrifice? His reasoning on this matter may be fanciful, but it will not guarantee anything, especially under the circumstances of his running--no whites would take the challenge, although they tried to find one. They all saw certain defeat in accepting a challenge against Obama and possibly a ruining of their political careers.

The Republicans have not come to Keyes because they think he can win, they have gone to him because he is Black and he will surely lose, as will any candidate against Obama. He is simply too powerful at this time to be beaten. The Republicans went to Keyes because he a sure loser, and they did not want to have their credible white candidates lose to a Black and face the possibility not being a credible candidate in future contests.

A man of Alan Keyes' reputed intelligence must have known this, and he must have known that Republicans will never give anything good to Black people. Is his love so strong for the party of Lincoln that he can't see this or is he willing to disregard this truth?

Keyes offered this comment on his contradictory running Sunday: "[He decided to run] to defend the land of my spirit and my conscience, and my heart." It is difficult to figure out what that means, if it means anything at all. He certainly has many disabilities in entering this race--such things as what he said a year ago, yesterday week, and what he did. Are the Republicans so arrogant with power and bloated within themselves that they think they can throw anything against a Democrat?

Whatever the case may be, it is tragic that Keyes has allowed himself to be seduced by the Republican Party, as they place him up against Barack Obama, a seasoned Illinois Legislator who walks freely in all communities, who speaks the language of that state, and one who will certainly win in November. In so selecting Keyes, the Republicans have identified him as a loser, and he has allowed himself to be labeled according to their will. Why, assuming they are correct about his intelligence, has he allowed himself to be disgraced?

Alan Keyes was never a rising star; he has been around as a rare bird among the Republicans, to be abused and used at their will and whim. He poses no threat to Obama's rise--the man's name is spoken throughout Illinois, he is $10 million strong to run against any candidate, and he gets free publicity at his will; in this race Alan Keyes is just a name that will drop as others have, without a sound of any certain ring. He has been set up it seems, unless there is something else.

When we hear what he has said, viz., that he would not run unless the Republican Party supported him fully, and now he runs, we look to see what their support means. What we know is this: Keyes has a political debt of a half million dollars from his previous political campaigns; he owes the state of Maryland personal income taxes that he apparently is unable to pay, which matter indicates that he is not doing well there.

The full support of the Republican Party probably means that they will pay his debts and give him money to live on. Therefore, since it is improbable that he stands any chance of winning, his entry into the race probably means that he has been paid to cooperate, since he is another Black Republican politician who has been destroyed by the Republican Party--J.C. Watts, Colin Powell, etc.

Someone may want to wake Alan Keyes and other Black Conservatives from their sleep: the Republicans may have been the party of Lincoln, but Lincoln freed slaves, not continued to hold them in servitude.

Frank A. Jones