While much of what is going around is speculation, I think Jeff makes an interesting point about what George Allen is doing (Allen is the head of the National Republican Senate Campaign-NRSC). Jeff says he is hearing that Allen has told Jack! not to file the paperwork until he sees the replacement.
Sweet! Dueling Drafts! Draft Ditka vs the Bring Back Jack Draft that I won’t link to unless they reign in the damn spammer in my comments.
It truly can get weirder.
My guess is Allen would easily go with Ditka, but Ditka might not go with Ditka.
Jack! is self-funded, right? I suspect that the NRSC has no desire to spend any money on this race, so it’s either going to be Allen or Ditka. Considering how much money Ditka would not gain by running, I think Ditka isn’t going to go with Ditka.
So, if I understand this, as punishment for deceiving them, they’ll force Ryan to run and spend a lot of his own money on what they know is a lost cause, just so no one who may actually have a future will go down.
You gotta love this state!
What a mess. There appears to be no way out for the R’s that won’t make them look like a bunch of fools. This is a national embarrassment for them.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer group.
I think they’d be better off just giving up that running someone like Ditka that could make an ass of himself and them.
Actually, a lot of the ICFST seems to think Jack could still be a good candidate.
George Allen gets one thing–he won’t have to dump any money on a loser in Illinois if a self-funder gets in and he can concentrate on competitive races.
Hmmm. You know, election code doesn’t specifiy WHO is authorized to replace an established party US Senate candidate, just like it isn’t clear they can be replaced. Assuming they can be replaced, it still doesn’t say who can do it in the case of a statewide candidate. The SBE is assuming it would be the SCC, but you know lawyers, and they could make a very convincing argument that only Jack himself is authorized to name his replacement. I’m thinking the NRSC lawyers are smarter than ILGOP lawyers, so you are indeed right. This could get weirder.
Don’t tease me like that Jeff.
We still have several plausible if not likely ways for the Republicans to not have candidates for US Senate or President on the ballot.