Alan Keyes for President 2008?

In 1996 & 2000 I supported Alan Keyes for the Republican nominee for president. I supported him because I felt he best represented how I felt on a large number of issues, esp the Right to Life issues. This isn't to say I perfectly agreed with everything he stood for. (The only 2 times I can say that I voted fo a candidate that I perfectly agreed with, were the times I voted for myself when I was running for the DBQ City Council.) Another major area of agreement was his understanding of the US Constitution & its relation to the Declaration of Independence. Unfortunately, he never got much farther than a fairly decent showing in Iowa. & beyond that, the eventual winners of the nomination failed to use him as they should have in the Fall campaign, & in President Bush's case, in his administration (some of that could have been Dr. Keyes choice as well).

Since 2000 Dr. Keyes has continued to speak out on the issues of the day. Many times he seemed more like a lone voice. Among the things he did were to start some grassroots orginizations, Renew America, Declaration Foundation & Declaration Alliance. Now it looks like he might be making another bid for the presidency.

On 5 June 2007 the Renew America website announced the launching of a new website, We Need Alan Keyes for President. It was started in order to "determine and rally support for a presidential candidacy by Dr. Keyes, should he choose to run.".

In the press release, Stephen Stone, president of RenewAmerica explains the reason for the launch of the site: "At this point, Alan has not indicated that he will run. In fact, he has said that he would run only if enough people at the grassroots come forward to say they want him to run. Our job is to give them a chance to do so."

"We receive e-mails almost daily at RenewAmerica encouraging Alan to run. The writers are moral conservatives disaffected with the current candidates. These messages share a common belief that none of those running truly represents the moral conservative base of the Republican Party."

& just when you thought the Republican contest couldn't get any more interesting.

Actually, rumors of a Keyes candidacy have been floating arround for a while. A while ago I read an article that it was possible that he would run as the presidential candidate for the Constitution Party. This shows that there is some interest out there for him. The story talked about his also denying that he had left the Republican Party. At this point it looks like any claims that he has left the Republican fold are untrue.

In recent months, while at some meet the candidate events, I have talked to a few people who were his supporters in the DBQ. 1 of the comments made to me was how many of the current candidates are now supporting the changes in the tax system that he advocated back then.

There is clearly some solid support for him out there. How this plays out & if he gets into the race will be very interesting to see.

I will make 1 prediction about how the Main Stream Media (MSM) handles it if he does. Since he has a gay daughter like VP Cheney, the MSM will latch onto that fact & try to use it to attack him. & I am willing to bet that if they try to do so, he will be able to handle it in such a way that it will blow up in the MSM's faces (& they will act like it didn't).

I know that some readers will wonder if I will support him if he decides to run. Right now I consider the question moot as he hasn't jumped into the race. I can see several good reasons for him to get into the race & I hope he seriously considers doing so. I also see some difficulties he will face getting in at this point in time. I don't see them as insurmountable. Beyond that, when the time comes for a decision I think that he will decide depending on the support he has & what the field looks like at the time. & if he does get into the race, the same will apply to me.