Don't Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out

By vouchey in News on Jun 25, 2004 12:10PM

Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Jack Ryan's campaign has officially headed into "Goat Stage" (scroll to bottom) as the GOP Illinois Congressional Caucus gathered in Washington yesterday to determine not only whether or not Ryan should drop out, but who should take his place.

Through all this, two brave politicians with nothing to lose, Sen. Peter Fitzgerald and former Senate candidate Blair Hull have stepped up to point out the inconsistancies of the Illinois GOP. Fitzgerald on Republican State Treasurer, and State Scold, Judy Baar Topinka:

"She was so supportive of [former governor] George Ryan and was never offended by the indictments or the corruption there, but she is so offended by Jack Ryan's divorce . . . it does not add up to me," Fitzgerald said.

But Hull gets the bizarro prize for calling up the Sun-Times' Michael Sneed and sending her a whole essay on how upset he is about this whole mess. In case you forgot, last spring Hull was leading the race for Democratic Senate nominee, until his divorce proceedings were opened to the public. "I was doing pretty well until this week. This isn't fun for me to go through this again," he said. Hull is very concerned about the whole thing.

So Chicagoist thinks Illinois Republicans have a problem: Who the heck would want this job, now that Obama is so far ahead in the polls, and Jack Ryan has so screwed it up? We see two potential options ahead after Ryan drops out: 1) A tomato can candidate is propped up with lots of happy noise and no chance of winning. 2) State Sen. Steve Rauschenberger is given the nomination with a backroom deal that when he runs for either senator or governor next time, the state Republican party clears the decks of all competing nominees.