Ditka considers bid for U.S. Senate
USAToday | 7.13.04 | From staff and wire reports
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. Will Mike Ditka, former professional football coach, soon be known as 'Da Senator'?
Ditka, still popular in the Chicago area where he led the city's Bears to the National Football League championship in the 1980s, is considering a run as a Republican for the Senate from Illinois.
The GOP nomination is wide open after Jack Ryan, a millionaire investment banker-turned-teacher, abandoned the race two weeks ago. Ryan left the race in a furor over the release of divorce papers in which his ex-wife, Boston Public actress Jeri Ryan, said he took her to sex clubs and urged her to engage in sex acts with him in front of others.
Ditka, whose colorful career turned 'Da Bears' into a catchphrase among sports fans and got him satirized on Saturday Night Live, told a Chicago television station he is considering the race. "Once I make up my mind that I can make a difference, I might do it," he told Chicago television station WFLD.
Describing himself as "ultraconservative," Ditka told the station, "You think the people in Washington right now are the right people to run this country?"
At least one Web site www.draftditka.com is encouraging Ditka to enter the race. And Illinois House Minority Leader Tom Cross e-mailed supporters Friday, saying: "We need your help to 'Draft da Coach'."
Ditka said he had no timeline for making a decision.
He likely will have company if he decides to run. The deputy director of President Bush's drug-control office resigned Friday to explore a bid.
Andrea Grubb Barthwell, a Chicago-area physician, had been deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington since 2002, focusing on reducing demand for drugs. Federal law barred her from seeking the Republican nomination while she worked for the government.
Barthwell, 50, said that no one had assured her that she would be the GOP candidate.
"I'm interested, I want to be considered and I will make myself available to those who make that decision," she said, "but I am not assuming that I will be the candidate, and I am not assuming that once I get all the information that I need, that I would want to run in this particular race."
Financial backing from the party is one big issue, she said. Another is just how much support the candidate would get from the national party.
If Barthwell were chosen to face off against Democratic state Sen. Barack Obama, it would be the first time in U.S. history that two black candidates have battled for a Senate seat.
Republicans have struggled to come up with a candidate who could take over with just four months to go before the election. People with the money or name recognition to be strong candidates have turned the party down.
Barthwell is an unknown even to most leaders of the state GOP.
"Who? Don't know her," U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois said Friday.
But others said she should be considered for the nomination.
"I've heard nothing but good things about her," said state Sen. Kirk Dillard, a member of the Republican State Central Committee. The public attention to a race between two black candidates would help offset her lack of campaign funds, Dillard said.
Another possible GOP candidate is businessman James Oberweis, who finished second to Ryan in the March primary but alienated many with his attacks on illegal immigrants.
USAToday | 7.13.04 | From staff and wire reports
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. Will Mike Ditka, former professional football coach, soon be known as 'Da Senator'?
Ditka, still popular in the Chicago area where he led the city's Bears to the National Football League championship in the 1980s, is considering a run as a Republican for the Senate from Illinois.
The GOP nomination is wide open after Jack Ryan, a millionaire investment banker-turned-teacher, abandoned the race two weeks ago. Ryan left the race in a furor over the release of divorce papers in which his ex-wife, Boston Public actress Jeri Ryan, said he took her to sex clubs and urged her to engage in sex acts with him in front of others.
Ditka, whose colorful career turned 'Da Bears' into a catchphrase among sports fans and got him satirized on Saturday Night Live, told a Chicago television station he is considering the race. "Once I make up my mind that I can make a difference, I might do it," he told Chicago television station WFLD.
Describing himself as "ultraconservative," Ditka told the station, "You think the people in Washington right now are the right people to run this country?"
At least one Web site www.draftditka.com is encouraging Ditka to enter the race. And Illinois House Minority Leader Tom Cross e-mailed supporters Friday, saying: "We need your help to 'Draft da Coach'."
Ditka said he had no timeline for making a decision.
He likely will have company if he decides to run. The deputy director of President Bush's drug-control office resigned Friday to explore a bid.
Andrea Grubb Barthwell, a Chicago-area physician, had been deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in Washington since 2002, focusing on reducing demand for drugs. Federal law barred her from seeking the Republican nomination while she worked for the government.
Barthwell, 50, said that no one had assured her that she would be the GOP candidate.
"I'm interested, I want to be considered and I will make myself available to those who make that decision," she said, "but I am not assuming that I will be the candidate, and I am not assuming that once I get all the information that I need, that I would want to run in this particular race."
Financial backing from the party is one big issue, she said. Another is just how much support the candidate would get from the national party.
If Barthwell were chosen to face off against Democratic state Sen. Barack Obama, it would be the first time in U.S. history that two black candidates have battled for a Senate seat.
Republicans have struggled to come up with a candidate who could take over with just four months to go before the election. People with the money or name recognition to be strong candidates have turned the party down.
Barthwell is an unknown even to most leaders of the state GOP.
"Who? Don't know her," U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois said Friday.
But others said she should be considered for the nomination.
"I've heard nothing but good things about her," said state Sen. Kirk Dillard, a member of the Republican State Central Committee. The public attention to a race between two black candidates would help offset her lack of campaign funds, Dillard said.
Another possible GOP candidate is businessman James Oberweis, who finished second to Ryan in the March primary but alienated many with his attacks on illegal immigrants.
