Illinois GOP Courting Alan Keyes

Illinois Republican leaders have asked two-time presidential hopeful Alan Keyes on to be their U.S. Senate candidate, but like a string of previous possibilities, Keyes said he needed a few days to think about it before deciding.

It's been a laborious six-week search as Republicans have sought a candidate willing to tackle the daunting task of taking on Democratic rising star Barack Obama in the Senate race.

Keyes says he needs a few days to think about it and plans to announce his decision Sunday. Party officials are trying to replace Jack Ryan who pulled out because of a scandal involving his personal life.

Keyes was picked Wednesday over former George W. Bush administration deputy drug czar and Chicago-area physician Andrea Grubb Barthwell.

If Keyes goes up against Obama, it would set up the first U.S. Senate election with two black candidates representing the major parties. Illinois could produce only the fifth black U.S. senator in history. Barthwell also is black.

Keyes flew from his home in Maryland to interview Wednesday with Republican leaders for the spot.

Whoever is chosen will have just three months to raise cash and campaign against Obama, who has raised more than $10 million and was tapped to give the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention last week. Obama has been drawing thousands of people at each stop on a statewide tour this week.

Obama, a Harvard Law School graduate, has an intriguing personal history. Growing up in Hawaii the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas, he has talked and written about trying to come to grips with his racial identity, a period of rebellion that included drug use, traveling to Africa and becoming a community activist in Chicago.