Obama v. Keyes?

Has the Illinois GOP finally settled on an opponent for Democratic rising star and US Senate aspirant Barack Obama? If you recall my prior post about Obama, his last opponent dropped out of the race after unsealed divorce papers revealed a proclivity for exhibitionist sex. Now, the Illinois Republican Party has offered the nomination to Alan Keyes, former Republican presidential candidate and, notably, current Maryland native; in fact, he appears to have no ties to Illinois whatsoever. Now, as a supporter of Hillary Clinton, I certainly can't get on Keyes's case about carpetbagging. It's a pretty intriguing choice, actually, considering that, if Keyes accepts the nomination (he has promised a decision by Sunday), it will guarantee that the next Senator from Illinois will be African American, only the fifth ever. The only thing is, check out what Keyes himself had to say about Hillary's run for the Senate in 2000:

I deeply resent the destruction of federalism represented by Hillary Clinton's willingness go into a state she doesn't even live in and pretend to represent people there...

To his credit, Keyes said this about the prospect of moving to Illinois to run for Senate now:

As a matter of principle, I don't think it's a good idea. It has to be something where I would be convinced it's not only consonant with federalism as I understand it but that it's in the best interest of the state and of the nation.