The polls indicate Illinois State Senator Barack Obama should
coast to victory for Illinois’ vacant U.S. Senate seat. However,
that has not stopped challenger Alan Keyes from launching verbal
salvos against the rising star of the Democratic Party. The two are
squaring off for the seat vacated by Republican Senator Peter
Fitzgerald.

Obama, a Democrat from the south side of Chicago, rose to
notoriety as a charismatic black leader when he delivered a rousing
keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. The
Harvard Law School graduate and professor of Constitutional Law at
the University of Chicago has served in the Illinois Senate since
1997.

Republican Keyes, a political commentator and champion of
conservative family values, came to the aid of the Republican Party
when nominee Jack Ryan exited the race in July after allegations of
sexual improprieties with his wife. Keyes, who lives in Maryland,
took up residence in suburban Chicago for the remainder of the
race. Besides waging two unsuccessful campaigns for the presidency
in 1996 and 2000, Keyes previously served as ambassador to the
United Nations Economic and Social Commission under President
Ronald Reagan from 1983-85.

Keyes has faced harsh criticism for his decision to come to
Illinois after he criticized Senator Hilary Clinton for moving to
New York run for Senate.

“I think the people of Illinois are willing to judge me on who I
am and what I can contribute and what I say, instead of looking at
extraneous things,” he said.

The race, which guarantees the U.S. Senate will have its third
black member since reconstruction, is a showdown between the
liberal policies of Obama and the conservative family values that
Keyes says lacking from today’s government. Keyes has primarily
focused on issues of abortion and homosexual marriage for his
campaign, while Obama has tried to focus on economic issues.

“As I travel around this state, I don’t get asked about gay
marriage, I don’t get asked about abortion. I get asked, ‘How can I
find a job that allows me to support my family?’ I get asked, ‘How
can I pay those medical bills without going into bankruptcy?”‘
Obama said. Keyes attacked Obama early in the campaign for taking
the “slaveholder’s position” on abortion. He said Obama’s vote in
the Illinois Senate to reject a ban on late- term abortions denied
unborn children of their constitutional rights.

“I would still be picking cotton if the country’s moral
principles had not been shaped by the Declaration of Independence,”
Keyes said. He said Obama “has broken and rejected those principles
— he has taken the slaveholder’s position.”

Keyes has come under fire for other controversial remarks, such
as referring to Vice-President Dick Cheney’s lesbian daughter as a
“selfish hedonist.” He also said in their second debate that Jesus
would not vote for Obama, who is a Christian.

“When I look at where Christ stands, and I look at where Senator
Obama stands, based upon that record of Christ’s understanding,
which we acknowledge as Christians to be the true record, I say,
‘Well, Christ is over here. Senator Obama’s over there. The two
don’t look the same,'” Keyes said referring to Obama’s opposition
to a constitutional amendment banning homosexual marriage and his
support of abortion rights.

“I don’t need Mr. Keyes lecturing me about Christianity. That’s
why I have a pastor. That’s why I have my Bible. That’s why I have
my own prayer. And I don’t think that any of you are particularly
interested in having Mr. Keyes lecture you about your faith. What
you’re interested in is solving problems like jobs, and health-care
and education. I’m not running to be the minister of Illinois. I’m
running to be its United States Senator,” Obama said.

Obama has attempted to stay out of attack politics. His website
has no sections dedicated to Keyes, whereas Keyes’ website features
a daily “Obamanation,” which cites where Obama has changed stances
on issues.

“You can lie about somebody. You can mischaracterize your
position. You can go back on your word. You can spend all your time
tearing somebody down instead of doing something positive. There is
no other realm in our lives that that would be acceptable,” Obama
said, while speaking at the University of Illinois as part of
Governor Jim Edgar’s political leaders series. The former
republican governor has not endorsed either candidate and has said
that he would campaign differently than Keyes.

Obama has spent the past few weeks campaigning in other states
to help other Democratic candidates. He has garnered the
endorsement of Illinois’ leading newspapers, including, the Chicago
Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Quad City Times, and the
Bloomington Pantagraph. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch also gave him
their endorsement because of the aid he has promised to East St.
Louis.

Keyes will spend the next week fiercely campaigning and trying
to close the gap in the polls that shows he trails by as much as 50
percent.