From the Chicago Tribune

Race for Senate turns from odd to kind of wacky
Keyes allowed on ballot only after a 4-hour standoff

By John Chase and John McCormick
Tribune staff reporters
Published August 28, 2004

Illinois' Republican U.S. Senate campaign got even stranger Friday.
A spat at the Illinois State Board of Elections over whether Republican
leaders had the power to replace Jack Ryan with Alan Keyes as the Senate
nominee threatened to hold up certification of the entire November election
ballot, which by law had to be approved by Friday.
The Senate campaign has seen its share of twists and turns. The GOP primary
winner dropped out amid charges about sex club visits, a parade of potential
replacements spurned the chance, and party leaders finally imported a former
talk show host from Maryland.
On Friday, the action moved to the eight-member elections panel, which is
split evenly between the two major parties. The board's Democrats said they
weren't sure state law allowed substituting Keyes for Ryan.
A sometimes dramatic, four-hour standoff produced a rare instance of unity
between the conservative Keyes campaign and that of the more liberal
Democratic nominee, Barack Obama. Both said the Republican deserved to be on
the ballot and sent representatives from their campaigns scurrying to the
Thompson Center, where the board was meeting.
Obama's position notwithstanding, Keyes was quick to charge Democrats with
political shenanigans. But if that was the case, the motive was hard to
figure.
Obama, a state senator from Hyde Park, led Keyes by a 41-percentage point
margin in a recent Tribune/WGN-TV poll, and has a huge advantage in both
organization and campaign cash. Holding that kind of edge, it would make
little political sense for Obama--and risk creating an image problem--to
orchestrate the bouncing of Keyes from the ballot.
In the end, all it apparently took to resolve the issue was a five-minute
call to the board from a lawyer with the Republican National Committee who
said the party thought the selection of Keyes was on the square.
Even though they finally relented and voted to allow Keyes on the ballot,
Democratic board members said they still reserved the right to change their
minds next week if some remaining questions about what the lawyer said
aren't answered to their satisfaction.
"If this opinion is a bunch of malarkey, then we can go back and amend our
position," said Democratic board member William McGuffage.
Despite the final vote, Board Chairman John Keith, another Democrat,
declined to advise local election officials that it was safe to begin the
lengthy process of formatting and printing ballots for the Nov. 2 election.
"That's up to the county clerks and election authorities," Keith said. "I
don't know. I don't print ballots."
Although state law provides guidance on how to replace nominees for other
statewide and congressional offices, it apparently is silent when it comes
to how to fill a vacancy for what will be printed on the ballot for U.S.
Senate.
"Who has the authority to fill a vacancy for a U.S. Senate nominee? We don't
know," McGuffage said.
With state law requiring the board to certify the ballot by the end of the
day, members allowed the entire state ballot to become hostage to the
dispute over Keyes. At one point, the four Democrats voted against a motion
to certify the ballot as long as Keyes was on it. Minutes later, all the
Republicans voted against a motion to certify the ballot with everyone on it
except Keyes.
Later, when one Democratic member threatened to leave before things were
resolved, a Republican on the panel pleaded for him to stay and offered to
buy drinks at a nearby tavern while they awaited the call to come in from
the RNC attorney, who was in New York preparing for the party's national
convention.
Finally, as the board members munched on doughnuts in place of dinner, the
crisis was resolved after listening to the Republican lawyer on a
speakerphone as he cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that had allowed
Democratic leaders in California to select a replacement candidate.
"Our position is that they did act consistent with the rules of the
Republican National Committee," said Charles Spies, the RNC's election law
counsel. Spies promised a formal written opinion by Monday.
The resolution came several hours after a Republican board member left the
meeting because he was late for a pig roast, granting his proxy to another
of the Republicans who stayed behind.
Democrats mounted their stand against Keyes despite the advice of the
board's own attorney, who also had concluded that Republicans had the
authority to install Keyes on the ballot once Ryan dropped out.
Ryan won the GOP primary in March but later withdrew after a judge unsealed
divorce papers that showed his ex-wife had accused him of coercing her to go
to sex clubs and tried to get her to engage in sex acts with him in front of
others.
Making political rounds on the East Coast, Keyes said he felt that the
effort to block him from the ballot shows Democrats are afraid of him.
"The Democratic Party is so afraid of what will be a true test of their
candidates that they would try this corrupt maneuver to have me removed from
the ballot because they have no confidence in Barack Obama," he said. "This
was a partisan maneuver and was a corrupt effort to try to steal this
election."
An Obama spokesman said Keyes belongs on the ballot.
"The campaign of Barack Obama believes that the state central committee
rightfully replaced Jack Ryan with Alan Keyes," said Robert Gibbs, an Obama
spokesman. "We're here with legal opinions to support that case and believe
that all access should be afforded to Alan Keyes to the Illinois ballot. I
think they believe that, too."
Bryan Schneider, a Republican Elections Board member, led the defense of
Keyes' place on the ballot, though he acknowledged state law on the subject
was not clear.
"Law from time to time has certain gaps," he said. "People have to use
reasoned judgment to decide how to fill those gaps."
Schneider declined to follow Keyes in charging that Democrats on the board
were playing games.
"I don't think it's good for anybody to speculate on other people's
motivations," he said after the meeting. "They had some questions and you
really have to ask them."
Keith also denied playing politics.
"I'm not involved in politics," he said. "The State Board of Elections is
non-partisan."
Tribune staff reporters Ofelia Casillas and Jennifer Skalka contributed to
this report from New York City
Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune