August 9, 2004

JACQUE REID, ANCHOR: History is being made in Illinois as, for the first time ever, two black candidates go head-to-head for the U.S. Senate.

The Democratic Party's so-called golden boy, Barack Obama, says he welcomes two-time Republican presidential candidate Alan Keyes to the race, which is already heating up.

BET's Andre Showell reports.

CLIP OF ALAN KEYES: "I was absolutely convinced that SOMEBODY had to run against Barack Obama."

ANDRE SHOWELL, REPORTER: Now that Illinois U.S. Senate hopeful has answered the GOP's call, he has just under three months to gain steam in what promises to be an uphill race against Democratic favorite Barack Obama. At a press conference yesterday, he lashed out against his opponent's track record.

CLIP OF KEYES: "I found somebody who, as we would expect from the kind of liberalism he professes, has never seen a spending bill he couldn't find some excuse for, and has never seen a tax increase he didn't like."

SHOWELL: Illinois GOP leaders courted Keyes, even though he currently resides in Maryland. Congressman Elijah Cummings is among the critics who say Keyes is simply being used to advance a larger GOP strategy.

CLIP OF REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS, (D-MD): "Basically, I think the philosophy here is you keep Obama busy so that he cannot go around the country helping other candidates of the Democrats win. I think this is a philosophy that goes far beyond Illinois."

SHOWELL: In the coming months, Keyes will need to prove to voters that he is in step with their local issues.

CLIP OF ALVIN WILLIAMS, PRESIDENT, BAMPAC: "He will have to introduce himself and reintroduce himself. I think he'll have quite a few opportunities in the next couple of months to do that. He'll also have to put forth a viable media campaign to share with the people of Illinois where he is on the issues, and the sort of representative he will be."

SHOWELL: Keyes says, although he can't promise victory, he can promise to fight, in a battle to be the fifth black Senator in U.S. history.

In Washington, Andre Showell, BET Nightly News.

REID: Well, earlier this evening, I talked to Alan Keyes about his challenger and whether his candidacy is about winning, or just winning over African Americans for the Republican Party.

[begin segment]

REID: Alan Keyes, thank you so much for joining us.

ALAN KEYES, ILLINOIS U.S. SENTATE CANDIDATE: Glad to do it.

REID: Let me ask you, first, you know, you are known for going against the grain. You ran for Senate twice in the State of Maryland--strongly Democratic state there. You ran for president twice, and you were clearly the underdog in both of those cases. Now you're running for a strong and popular candidate in the State of Illinois for U.S. Senate.

What's the strategy here? I mean, are you really looking to win, or is this your party, the Republican Party's effort to win over the black vote?

KEYES: Oh, not at all. A matter of fact, race is eliminated as an issue in the campaign, and I think we're really going to see a clear contrast on the issues appealing to everybody--I hope black voters, certainly, but also voters throughout the state who really don't share Barack Obama's extreme views on things like abortion, his socialist approach to government in terms of universal healthcare, where he's put a proposal on the table that was so extreme, even the Democrats backed away from it.

So, I think that we're going to have a good contest here that's going to be based on the fact that I've got good, strong support for the issues of moral principle, while I've been taking strong stands for many years, and that base will be consolidated, as well as reaching out to folks who I think will respond to a message that really corresponds to the core values of the American way of life, which I think Barack Obama turns his back on.

REID: Well, speaking of taking a strong stand, you, today, came out swinging, saying that Barack Obama has taken a slaveholder's position when it comes to the issue of abortion.

Don't you think that that language might be a little inappropriate, coming from someone who's part of a party that really has had a disconnect with African American voters? I mean, 90% of black voters voted for the Democratic Party in the last presidential race.

KEYES: Well, these things have nothing to do with each other. What I said is factual. The position of the slaveholders and people like Stephen Douglas on the issue of slavery was moral indifference. They didn't care whether slavery was voted up or voted down, so long as it was done by popular sovereignty. That was Stephen Douglas.

That's the pro-choice position on an issue of moral principle--the same issue involved in abortion.

Whether an individual is weak or strong, whether they are born or unborn, they are entitled to the same respect, equal respect, for their rights. We were denied that respect as black Americans, based on the notion that we weren't human. That babe in the womb is being denied their rights, based on the same notion.

And when you take the position that you can stand there, pro-choice, indifferent to moral principle, you're doing exactly what those people did in the 19th century and what Frederick Douglass opposed.

So, I think that I have simply stated a fact, and in responding to it, one has to look at the facts and see whether I have spoken accurately.

I know I have.

REID: So, you don't feel like you're being too harsh there?

KEYES: I just call 'em as I see 'em.

REID: I see . . .

KEYES: I think the position he takes on this issue . . . Ah, sorry.

REID: Well, speaking of calling them as you them, are you going to give Senator Hillary Clinton an apology phone call? Because you were pretty harsh on her when she decided to run for Senate in New York, coming from Arkansas. And now you're doing the same thing, coming from Maryland and running for Senate in Illinois. What's the difference?

KEYES: The difference is that she went on a quest of personal ambition, she was using the states as a platform for her personal ambition, and she carefully prepared this in New York--even went in to try to stir up interest in what she was doing, to serve her own personal ambition.

I am STILL strongly critical of that.

That's not why I'm here. I have been asked by the party and the people and the grassroots folks in Illinois to meet a need that they decided needed my help and capacity, and I have done so on the basis of the fact that Barack Obama represents an abandonment of the fundamental principles of our national union, and I am called to stand in defense of those principles, just as Lincoln did in the run up to slavery.

And I think with a deep issue like that at stake, I am fully justified in responding to the call that has genuinely come without any intervention from me of any kind from the people of this state.

REID: All right. Alan Keyes, keeping it interesting, as always. We appreciate you so much for stopping in and talking with us, and I'm sure we'll talk to you again.

KEYES: Well, thank you for having me.

REID: All right. Good luck.