Usually, I concentrate on political news and events that are happening in the local area. But Alan Keyes always seems to stir the pot wherever he shows up. The former independent presidential candidate and conservative from the East Coast who Illinois Republicans was drafted to run as their candidate for the U.S. Senate after their original candidate withdrew after some scandalous sexual information came out from his divorce papers and no other name candidates stepped foward. It seems he has sounded off twice recently: Once in a news conference about his idea about reparations for some African-Americans who are the dependents of slaves. The other time was last Friday on a public affairs show on WBBM Radio in Chicago, where he said that he favoured the direct election of senators, repealing the 17th Amendment and returning to the practice where senators were selected by state legislatures.

Thanks to the blog Dizzy From Spinning for the heads up on the Keyes info. A good liberal-focused source.

Also thanks to FlaBlog for the recent mention and kind words. In the midst of all the hurricane related news he reminded me there was still a Senate race on by mentioning some recent newspaper endorsements over the weekend.

And congrats to Tommy and Sticks of Fire in Tampa, who experienced the blogging equivilent of 15 minutes of fame over the weekend, as his hits during Charley and afterward shot up like a HUGE bull stock.