Keyes to the kingdom . . . or not

As U.S. Senate-hopeful Barack Obama rode the winds of change and a big lead in the polls to go assailing in Martha's Vineyard Wednesday, his opponent Alan Keyes delivered a major -- hastily scheduled -- foreign policy speech at an elementary school in the heart of Chicago's Orthodox Jewish community, declaring his contrast with his Democratic opponent, as reported in Illinois Leader.

The speech is available in video, audio and text formats at the Keyes' official campaign website, which for being so hastily put together looks very good. Is Alan's Chicago apartment as well furnished?

It's good that Keyes got his speech accomplished at the religious school in Chicago, because he won't be heard from in New York, or seen riding a wave of support following his appearance at the Republican Convention -- he declined the one-minute non-prime-time slot extended to all U.S. Senate candidates.

Not only in New York, but Keyes' reception by Illinois Republicans has also been lukewarm: "The Republican U.S. Senate candidate ... finished a booming stemwinder of a speech to his party's State Central Committee here on Thursday, then stepped away from the podium to find only a couple of people in the group rising to shake his hand."

In other States, Keyes has come under fire. Alan Dershowitz wants to know where Keyes gets off claiming the Godly are for Keyes, and a newspaper that had supported him at first, withdrew its support.

But "the mouth from Maryland" is not without supporters: UI Student Republicans are standing behind Keyes, as is Phyllis Schlafly, and the American Daily which touts: Keyes to Victory, and of course the Illinois Leader.

Keyes wears a a necklace with a cross and the 10 Commandments on it. "The Boss and The Rules," he says. . . . But his positions -- in favor of concealed weapons, reparations for slavery, against stem-cell research, against homosexuals -- will not get him into the U.S. Senate, though he believes them to be keys to a heavenly kingdom.