I'LL TAKE KEYES, PLEASE!

WHY ALAN KEYES COULD BRING POLITICAL DEBATE BACK TO ILLINOIS

The entry of former UN ambassador Alan Keyes into the Illinois Senate race sets up a unique situation in American politics. For once, we have a race in which at least one of the candidates is not desperately thirsting to gain office--and can therefore feel free to speak his mind and heart. The Obama-Keyes matchup will be well worth watching this year, particularly for those wondering what religious conservatives REALLY think. Because Alan Keyes will be telling us the brutal, unmediated, unvarnished truth.

While Obama was eager to debate erstwhile candidate Jack Ryan as many as 6 times (Ryan was said to be contemplating two or three), suddenly he has now run out of time to discuss the issues with the silver-tongued Keyes. As well he should. There is not time enough in what's left of history for Obama to master either the language or the oratory Alan Keyes has at the tip of his tongue. In short, the more Obama tries to debate Keyes, the more voters will move out of the "D" column and into the "R."

Keyes is, in this race at any rate, precisely what the electorate always claims to want--an honest man, telling it like it is, who isn't being paid off by anybody and doesn't owe any favors. He may in fact be the only man in Illinois politics who doesn't have a corrupt connection to Illinois politics--a feat that can only be achieved by coming from somewhere else. Indeed, it is the rare politician that isn't related to some other politician--to a Ryan or a Daley or a Madigan--and all the eligible folks that aren't claim not to be interested.

Keyes will be more than interesting to watch. Because if the nosy press finds out something about his personal life that carries a whiff of scandal, he'll just say, "That's my business. Get over it." Whereas most politicians would have a healthy fear of dropping in the polls, Keyes is checked by no such hesitation. He is as likely to tell an interviewer to shut up as he is to say Barack Obama has a "slaveholder mentality" (he's already done the latter.)

I'm glad to be in Indiana, not far from Chicago, where I will get to hear all this. I feel sorry for the rest of the country, who will not. Because, while the national press will tell you that Keyes is running, will ridicule him for jumping into the race after objecting to Hillary's carpet-bagging, and will shout the word "extremist" from the housetops on the rare occasion that they absolutely must talk about him, there is one thing they simply will not do. They will never let the nation see Alan Keyes talk. They will never allow an unmediated view of an unapologetic black pro-life conservative.

One would have to be a C-SPAN junkie to know who Keyes is. He once ran for president as a Republican, a bruising experience, but an enlightening one. Now a backer of the president, then he held himself out as the true candidate of conservatism, compassionate or otherwise. He does not suffer fools gladly, if at all, and his grasp of the Founders' intentions and the meaning of the Declaration and the Constitution knows no living peer.

With two black candidates in the race, we may finally get a real discussion of things like the effects of the welfare dependency system on the black family. With a true conservative and a liberal in disguise, we will get at least two positions on things like gay marriage, abortion, and gun control. And if they start to talk about taxes, the citizens of Illinois will soon hear some ideas they've never been allowed to hear before.

So, sit back and watch the Illinois Senate race if you can. Mr. Obama may well win, simply because Illinois is largely controlled by the Democratic elites in Chicago. But he may not. And, whichever way it turns out, Ambassador Keyes will definitely give Mr. Obama a heck of a ride to November.