Time to Throw off Your Dead Weight
The Illinois Republican Party this week sent out hundreds of thousands of campaign mailers to homes across the state that leave off the name of one high-profile Republican contender–U.S. Senate candidate Alan Keyes.
The glossy promotion, which doubles as an absentee ballot application, is zoned for specific regions in the state and touts “Your 2004 Republican Team.” The team roster includes President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and various congressional and legislative candidates.
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“It’s immature and petty for them to have left Keyes off something like this,” said Keyes supporter Christine Boreland, who received one of the mailers at her Barrington home Tuesday. “He’s definitely a long shot, but it wouldn’t have cost any more money to include his name.”
Aides to Topinka said it was unnecessary to include Keyes’ name in the direct mail solicitation because the state party knew his campaign was sending out a comparable mailer of its own.
“People are reading too much into this,” Illinois GOP spokesman Jason Gerwig said. “We did our mailing and congressional candidates helped coordinate it. The Keyes campaign is doing its own thing.”
Supporter for Alan Keyes’s 2000 presidential bid, Tom Coburn:
U.S. Senate candidate Tom Coburn declined to comment Wednesday on the Republican U.S. House speaker’s published statement that Coburn will probably not win the race.
“He’s a wonderful man, and he’s entitled to his opinion,” the Republican Coburn told The Associated Press after a debate in Tulsa.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert said Tuesday that Coburn “probably” won’t defeat U.S. Rep. Brad Carson, D-Okla., in the contest to replace retiring Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla.
“We have a race in Oklahoma that we are probably not going to win,” Hastert told the (Arlington Heights, Ill.) Daily Herald editorial board. “That’s a Republican seat we are probably going to lose.”