Reply #39: That's right. Jack Ryan had some kinky sex clubs that he tried taking Jeri to.

[Nailzberg]

So he dropped out. No one in the IL GOP wanted to take on Obama. Only Oberweis (who lost to Ryan in the primary) wanted in. But he was running these offensive anti-immigration ads during the primary, so the IL GOP passed on him. There where other qualified candidates from the primary (it was an open seat with 7 people running on each side), but none wished to take on Obama. As someone else mentioned, there was an effort to draft Edgar that failed. There was also buzz about drafting State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, but she was too smart for that. So the IL GOP basically found settled on Keyes, better to sacrifice a carpetbagger than a someone the party was developing.

PS - Oberweis is currently running for Denny Hastert's seat.