Well, Alan Keyes has been the Republican Senate candidate from Illinois (at least, if one can do that without being, you know, from Illinois) for less than three days now, and so far his attacks on LWB-idol Barack Obama have ranged from the unbelievably outrageous - comparing him to a slave owner because he believes that the American tradition of liberty procures to women as well as men - to the unbelievably petty - calling him a coward for not rescheduling the first three debates he had originally planned for the summer...back when there was going to be a Republican candidate to debate during the summer. That, and Keyes compared Obama to "this little guy who was pretending to be big." Obama, meanwhile, remains biting but civil: I have to admit that I'm surprised that out of the 12 million people in Illinois, they couldn't find one that they thought would be an effective standard-bearer...I guarantee you that between me and Mr. Keyes, people are going to be sick of hearing the two of us talk by the time this campaign rolls around...[Keyes' anti-abortion rhetoric] is out of the mainstream. By his yardstick, Jim Edgar and Jim Thompson would be unacceptable candidates. With Obama leading Keyes 67% to 28, it would be tempting to say that there's nowhere for Keyes to go but up. But I suspect that, when it comes to tired, misleading rhetoric and widespread unpopularity, Keyes hasn't found the floor yet.