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CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - Greene: Could Mike Ditka have altered U.S. history? - Blogs from CNN.com

"in the summer of 2004, Ditka was being pursued by Illinois and national Republican leaders to step in and run for the United States Senate against a newcomer to the political big leagues: Barack Obama, an Illinois state senator.
Jack Ryan, who was expected to be the Republican nominee on the November ballot in the Illinois race that year, had dropped out, and his party was scrambling for a replacement. They approached Ditka; he gave it serious consideration, and then, citing family and business obligations, said no.
�I don�t know what would have happened if I had run,� Ditka, 69, said. �I really don�t. Could I have beaten him? Maybe. Maybe not.�

A lot of people in Illinois thought Ditka had a pretty good chance to win, had he accepted the invitation to run. Remember: four years ago, Obama was a relative unknown. He was back in the state senate after having been defeated badly in a 2000 primary in which he sought to run for the U.S. House of Representatives.
�I�m a staunch conservative,� he said. �You can�t fool me about socialism and the welfare state. I�m solid for McCain and Palin.�

Box_O_Rocks

**sigh** There's a bit of confusion when someone tries to link McCain with the label "conservative." It's kind of like pointing East and asking me if I'm enjoying the sunset...

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TrueBeliever

Yeah, I remember this story.

Back in '04 all the talk started about Ditka being recruited by the Illinois GOP. According to reports a meeting was scheduled between the two. Whether they made a public announcement or it was leaked, I don't know, but somehow the press/media knew about it and a bunch of reporters/photographers/cameras were waiting outside the building where this meeting was supposed to take place.

According to reports Ditka drove up, took one look at all the media people waiting for him... and drove off. That was the end of that idea.

Apparently Ditka was unaware that people running for public office get a little media attention...?

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