I hope Kirk does well. If he doesn’t have an embittered ex-wife willing to spread stories, he’ll be ahead of the last Illinois Republican (Jack Ryan). Did Keyes even live in Illinois?

Burned by Blago and The Anointed, Democrats downstate will turn GOP in a heartbeat.

The only luck wehad was the decision by Sen. Roland Burris — appointed by now-indicted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich to fill Obama’s remaining term — not to run to keep the seat.

There. Fixed.

Not sure it’ll matter much, WTF, as long as Cook County holds. Which is why I’ve been trying to get Little Egypt to get a secession movement going.

So you don’t think Rahm will run for it?

I lived in Little Egypt for over three years. Lemme tell ya, as you go south from I-64, you aren’t just entering another possible state called “Southern Illinois,” you’re entering another country. Beautiful place, nice people, but very isolated, very rural and quite different. If they go Republican down that way, it could offset the dead vote in Cook County. After all, Illinois once elected Republicans like Chuck Percy as Governor and Everett Dirksen as Senator, so it’s possible.

Katherine, Jeri Ryan is in the clear. She and Jack *both* fought to keep the divorce records sealed; it was the Chicago Tribune (even then Obama fanboys) who got a judge to pry them open. I’m only sorry that Jack didn’t tough it out and stay in the race; after all, his behavior was choirboy-pure compared to such Democrat idols as JFK.

And no, Alan Keyes does not live in Illinois – he’s in Maryland.

The Republican primary which Jack Ryan won had something like 7 candidates on the slate. I have never understood why the state GOP, having lost Ryan, didn’t pick another one from the list. My husband suggests that since the media’s Obama Swoon was already well under way (“No, we don’t know anything about him but oooh, he’s so dreamy!”) that none of them wanted to take part in what looked like a sure defeat. That could be, but … damn it all, the party could have put up more of a fight. Instead they rolled over and played dead.

Anyway, now that the shine is off The Anointed One, the local GOP has more of an opening for a successful run. Let’s hope they have the wits to take advantage of it.

Anne B., I had forgotten it was the Trib and not Jeri Ryan. Thanks. We can always count on the liberal newspapers to do whatever dirty work will torpedo Republicans. I, also, thought he should have stuck it out in the race. It takes the National Enquirer to dig up and publish dirt on liberals, of course.

Not that it will make any difference to conservative values. the last couple of Republican governors were more Democratic than Cook County Democrats. I refuse to believe that we can elect a truly conservative governor in Illinois, whether he be an R or a D. It would be fun to have one, though.

He’d have to watch his back, Therese Z. As Anne B. pointed out, the Illinois Republicans need to have the wit to take advantage of the opportunity. Even in Illinois a RINO may no longer command voter enthusiasm.