Western Courier

Issue date: 7/22/04 Section: Opinion

Barack Obama, Democratic candidate for the Illinois US Senate seat, speaks at the Sullivan Taylor Coffee House in February. Currently, no Republican is actively running against him.

To say Barack Obama is running away with the US Senate race in Illinois would be an understatement. He couldn't be galloping to Washington faster if he was riding Smarty Jones all the way there. With the Republican party in Illinois caught up in a farcical mess that has left them without a candidate because Jim Ryan dropped out due too embarrassing news of a sex club scandal, Obama remains unopposed for the time being.

Illinois, formerly an important swing state in all national elections, has shifted more democratic, and is not even being considered a swing state at all by the George W. Bush campaign. The utter disarray of the state Republican Party has furthered this trend.

After Ryan dropped from the election, which he already seemed to be losing to Obama, the best replacement the Illinois GOP could come up with was former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka. Though it might have been fun to see "Iron Mike" on the campaign trail, he wisely declined to run, leaving the Republicans still scrambling for a late-inning candidate.

Regardless of who, if anyone, the GOP puts up against Obama, it is clear that the wildly popular State Senator from the south side of Chicago is the right fit for Illinois. He is an ambitious, squeaky-clean family man who won't embarrass the state with any seamy scandals. And, at just 42 years old, he could be an important force in Washington for a very long time.

The national Democratic Party seems to have taken notice of the young upstart as they have invited Obama to give the keynote speech at this year's Democratic National Convention on July 27th in New York. This is a clear indicator of how promising a candidate he really is.

Obama is also the right man for Illinois on the issues. Being from the 13th senate district on Chicago's South side, he is no stranger to the hard times many state public schools are in. Once in Washington, it is clear Obama will work to ratchet up spending on education. This will include increased spending on teacher training programs and encouraging more charter schools, which have seen good success in Chicago.

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