Yes, Alan Keyes is not fit to be a United States Senator (especially as he has no legislative experience -- see Hull and Hynes supporters, I wasn't just picking on them at the time).
Yes, he did not spark the national dialogue on the definition of morality that I had hoped might occur (a little bit like Senator Kerry's talk on faith and the nation's need to love our brothers more that we do through government investments in people).
But I'm a bit of a softie on Alan Keyes. I think there's something kind of great about the campaign.
He's black.
I know -- the GOP State Central Committee's selection of Keyes had all the grace of a drowning man. He filled a quota of one.
But no matter how inelegant the selection, there's something satisfying about two black candidates each earning the major party nomination for a U.S. Senate campaign from a state with a black population of only 14%.
Eric Zorn put it better than I have, likely inspired from watching the radio debate in person:
And I suspect that if Abe Lincoln's ghost haunts the Old State Capitol where he made such a mark so long ago, it smiled tonight at the sight of two black men debating as the leading candidates for Senate in his beloved state of Illinois.
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