Mike Ditka: If I Ran For Senate In 2004, Obama Would Not Be President

By Chuck Sudo in News on Oct 10, 2013 2:00PM

Don’t ever change, Mike Ditka—not that you could. “Da Coach” said his greatest regret was not not jumping at the opportunity to prevent a Barack Obama presidency.

Ditka said this earlier in the month at a ribbon cutting ceremony for an oil company in North Dakota—an event, by the way, where he had “no clue” why he was attending. (“My secretary sets everything up,” he said.) But he said he was glad his secretary set up the appearance because what he saw there represented “America at its best.”

“People who have an idea, a dream, and then they make it work. They have ambition, they have intestinal fortitude and they go get it. That’s what impresses me.”

Ditka did what he’s done ever since he left coaching at the event: shaking hands; posing for photos; preserving the Ditka brand. He then told The Dickinson Press about the one thing that has him waking up in cold sweats every night. No, it isn’t overindulging on pork chops and Mike Ditka Kick Ass red wine. Ditka regrets not running for Senate in 2004.

“Biggest mistake I’ve ever made,” Ditka said. “Not that I would have won, but I probably would have and he wouldn’t be in the White House.”

And here we thought Ditka's biggest mistake was not being able to win multiple Super Bowls with a Chicago Bears squad with the talent to at least three-peat. Or not give Walter Payton a chance to score a touchdown in Super Bowl XX. Or losing his players by sticking with Doug Flutie at quarterback. Or his landmark coaching stint in New Orleans.

Ditka considered running for Senate after Republican nominee Jack Ryan withdrew from the race after it was revealed he took his ex-wife, actress Jeri Ryan, to sex clubs and tried to get her to perform sex in public while others watched. Ditka eventually backed away from a run citing his business and personal obligations. At the time he said, "Five, six years ago I would have jumped on it and would have ran with it, and I know this, that I would make a good senator, because I would be for the people.” The Illinois GOP eventually chose ultra-conservative Alan Keyes to replace Ryan; Obama handily trounced Keyes in the general election.

While we would never underestimate the blind stupidity of Ditka’s cult of personality (for which every day is still 1985), The Atlantic Wire notes Obama held a seven-point lead over Ditka in a Survey USA poll had Ditka decided to run. That poll, by the way, was conducted before Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention that set him on his course for the White House.

While Ditka can ruminate about what it would be like to chart the course of the nation with Republican congressional leaders over an order of pot roast nachos at his restaurant, we’ll take the time today to count our blessings that never happened.