Actually it wasn’t the Ryan name that gave the Illions Senate seat to Obama. It was a liberal judge who unsealed previously sealed divorce records of Ryan that brought his wife’s allegation that he took her to “swinging” clubs etc. He was toast after that and stepped aside so a guy who had likely never been in Illinois more than a night or two could be a sacrificial lamb for the republican party - Alan Keyes. Illinois voter have never shyed away from voting for crooks !
Ethics scandals had plagued the previous administration of Republican George Ryan (no relation to Jim Ryan), and Blagojevich's campaign focused on the theme of "ending business as usual" in state government. Polls prior to the election found that many Illinois voters were confused about the names of George Ryan and Jim Ryan, a fact which Blagojevich used to his advantage. He asked, "How can you replace one Ryan with another Ryan and call that change? You want change? Elect a guy named Blagojevich."Running Ryan III against Obama only served to win Illinois the title of having the stupidist GOP, trouncing normally tough competition. Jack Ryan had two strikes against him, his state and his name, before Obama's buddies unsealed the divorce records.
If the national stupid party is stupid enough to run Bush's literal Texas understudy against Obama he'll know what to do with it. "It's all Bush's fault" is the only excuse Obama's got for our current mess. He'll have the media and comics addressing Rick as 'Gov. Bush' more often than he was referred to as 'Osama.' All the real issues will get buried. It wouldn't matter if Perry were the second incarnation of George Washington, Obama would just say "There George goes again" and his mob would think Bush.