Why my probability of voting for Alan Keyes is zero

I’ve tried not to blog about the Illinois Senate race because it’s just embarrassing to Republicans, but Noam Scheiber reminds me of this jaw-dropping story by Rick Pearson in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune on how Alan Keyes plans to win the race: Declaring that his campaign strategy is dependent on controversy, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Alan ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

I've tried not to blog about the Illinois Senate race because it's just embarrassing to Republicans, but Noam Scheiber reminds me of this jaw-dropping story by Rick Pearson in yesterday's Chicago Tribune on how Alan Keyes plans to win the race:

I’ve tried not to blog about the Illinois Senate race because it’s just embarrassing to Republicans, but Noam Scheiber reminds me of this jaw-dropping story by Rick Pearson in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune on how Alan Keyes plans to win the race:

Declaring that his campaign strategy is dependent on controversy, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Alan Keyes told the state’s top GOP donors at a recent closed-door meeting that he plans to make “inflammatory” comments “every day, every week” until the election, according to several sources at the session. The sources said Keyes explained that his campaign has been unfolding according to plan and likened it to a war in which lighting the “match” of controversy was needed to ignite grass-roots voters. “This is a war we’re in,” one source recounted Keyes as saying. “The way you win wars is that you start fires that will consume the enemy.” Keyes’ comments came during a 40-minute address to about 20 leading Republican fundraisers and donors Thursday at the posh Chicago Club. The sources asked not to be identified to prevent additional pre-election controversy within an already divided GOP. At the session, the sources said, Keyes denied that he has engaged in name-calling in his campaign. But he likened Democratic opponent Barack Obama to a “terrorist” because Obama, a state senator, voted against a legislative proposal pushed by abortion foes, sources said.

Then there’s this bizarre proposition:

Keyes also said the repeal of the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which created the direct public election of senators, was a “critical” issue of his campaign, the sources said. The Republican contender said the method spelled out until 1913 in the Constitution, in which state legislators chose U.S. senators, would bring more accountability to government.

There’s now at least a 60% chance that in this general election I’m going to vote for John Kerry and Barack Obama. Excuse me, I have to go lie down for a while.

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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