Jim Edgar and Jim Thompson May not Endorse Keyes

[liberalpragmatist]

How amazing would it be if these two, or if Edgar, at least, made no endorsement, or even endorsed Obama?

From the Chicago Tribune:
> http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/elections/chi-0408060207aug06,1,3310115.story?coll=chi-electionsprint-hed

Keyes' decision comes as ideological rifts finally have come to a head between conservatives and moderates within an Illinois Republican Party battered by scandal and struggling to find its vision. That it took nearly six weeks to pick someone to replace March primary winner Jack Ryan on the Nov. 2 ballot--and the machinations the GOP hierarchy went through to come up with Keyes--points to a sharply divided political organization, some Republicans say.

"No comment," former Gov. Jim Edgar, a moderate, said of the offer to Keyes, a line that may speak volumes considering Edgar's role as chairman of an already uphill battle to win Illinois for President Bush's re-election.

Former Gov. James Thompson said he had "no idea" whether he was going to endorse Keyes. "I'll wait and see what he has to say."

Conservatives, who have chafed under decades of moderate leadership of the state Republican Party, have viewed the implosion caused by the scandal surrounding George Ryan's tenure in public office and Jack Ryan's withdrawal from the Senate race as an opportunity to seize control of the GOP leadership.

Conservatives complain that during their tenure, Republican Govs. Thompson and Edgar did not embrace core conservative principles such as opposition to abortion rights and gun control.

Those complaints grew even louder with Ryan's 1998 election to the governor's office in a race where the Republican ran to the left of his socially conservative Democratic opponent, Glenn Poshard. Then, once in office, Ryan took socially moderate stands on abortion and gay rights, normalizing relations with Cuba and, as a last act, commuting the sentences of inmates on Death Row.

[slappypan]

1. right wing of the IL GOP is a joke

So this is their big moment, huh? Great, it will prove once and for all that are out of touch with reality, incapable of governing, and not competent to run a roadside lemonade stand let alone a State the size of Illinois.

[Cuban_Liberal]

2. 2 of Edgar's nephews are friends of ours.

I talked to them earlier today, when they were in to buy a book. Word is that Unca' Jim ain't happy--- at ALL.

:evilgrin: