Fitzgerald weighed the cost in blood and treasure, that it would take to fight first- his own party in the primary and then the opposition in the general election. Plus- his son Jake, who was 12 years old at the time, and would be 18 and off to college at the end of Peter's second 6 year Senate term, was a factor of consideration in whether to run. Peter had been in public office for as long as his son had been alive. He weighed the cost of public service when balanced against his personal life, AND the battle royale that loomed ahead if he chose to run for reelection and decided it was not in his nor his family's best interest.
That being said, operatives released sealed divorce records of both the Republican (Jack Ryan) and Democrat (Blair Hull) Senate candidate, damaging them enough to give the halfrican the advantage in each election, but for very different reasons.
Note: Ambassador Dr. Alan Keyes, the eventual GOP candidate, and a perceived carpetbagger, went down in flames against soebarkah, in the general election. The underhandedness of obama, IL Combine politics, AND the DNC is beyond comprehension. People need to swing from lamp posts for justice to be served.
We’ve reviewed this countless times over the past dozen years, especially going over that appalling 2004 race. I remember at the time urging the drafting of Mike Ditka as really the only person the GOP could run who could rise above the rest (Keyes was a no-go, and unfortunately, he didn’t realize he was being used by the Combine to play the part of a ringer). Ditka would’ve defeated Zero (of course, had Zero lost, it would’ve been Hillary that would’ve gone to the White House in 2008, as if that would’ve been any better). The big question is whether Ditka, as a non-politico, would’ve followed in the mode of Fitzgerald in office or would he have leaned on the Combiner flunkies.