Looks like the Illinois Republican Party, after five weeks of deliberation and several false starts with potential contenders who backed down from the prospect, has narrowed its selection down to Alan Keyes or Andrea Grubb Barthwell as contenders to face Barack Obama in November: Barthwell, a physician from the Chicago suburb of River Forest, had been deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy from 2002 until last month, when she quit to explore a Senate run. Keyes has never lived in Illinois and ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate twice from his home state of Maryland...By delaying the decision until Wednesday, the committee gave Keyes time to get to Chicago for a face-to-face interview. Barthwell, who interviewed with the committee on Tuesday and was expected to talk to them again on Wednesday, still has to contend with allegations that she engaged in "lewd and abusive behavior" while serving as a top official in the White House drug policy office. An internal inquiry found last year that she made repeated comments about the sexual orientation of a staff member and used a kaleidoscope to make sexually offensive gestures. Barthwell said last month that the inquiry memorandum overstated what happened, but she said she was wrong for participating in "inappropriate banter" at a staff birthday party. "I think it's something that was in the past, something we dealt with and it was resolved to everyone's satisfaction," she said. Others who interviewed with the committee Tuesday were: James Oberweis, a dairy owner who finished second in the primary; retired Air Force Gen. John Borling, retiree Norm Hill and Chirinjeev Kathuria, who all also ran in the primary; Chicago attorney John Cox; Martin Ozinga III, president of a concrete company; Terrence Barnich, a businessman and former head of the Illinois Commerce Commission; Andy Martin, who has run for office in Florida; John Arrington of Harvey; Daniel Vovak, a political writer who wears the white wig; and Steve Bergauer, a Libertarian from Peoria. Hill, businessman Raymond Deefenbaugh and Victor Logan, a retired businessman from Glen Ellyn, weren't scheduled to interview but were allowed to speak to the committee.