Alan Keyes presidential campaign, 2000
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The 2000 presidential campaign of Alan Keyes, former Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs from Maryland began when he formed an exploratory committee, simply called Keyes 2000, on June 17, 1999, with a formal announcement on September 21, 1999 in Bedford, New Hampshire. He ran in the 2000 presidential primaries, opposing Texas governor
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
and Arizona Senator
John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
for his party's nomination. Keyes campaigned as a more ideologically consistent candidate than John McCain, taking right-wing positions on issues, including abortion,
gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians. Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with on ...
, and government spending.


History


Background

In 1996 Alan Keyes sought the Republican nomination, but his opponents, pundits and many in the Republican party saw him as a divisive and fringe figure in the party due to him spending most of his time in the debates to ask his opponents what their views on abortion were. His campaign was also hurt by the belief that he was a
stalking horse A stalking horse is a figure used to test a concept or mount a challenge on behalf of an anonymous third party. If the idea proves viable or popular, the anonymous third party can then declare its interest and advance the concept with little risk o ...
as he entered the race after Buchanan had secured victories in New Hampshire and Louisiana. Keyes would end up only receiving 3.08% of the vote and one delegate. In 1998 Keyes expressed interest in running for president again in 2000, but was largely ignored as Elizabeth Dole,
John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
,
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
, Steve Forbes and other more prominent Republicans announced their campaigns and since he wasn't considered a serious candidate after many embarrassments in 1996.


Rise

Keyes was originally considered unimportant when he announced his campaign in September due to his numerous failed campaigns in the past, but as candidates started to drop out Keyes's poll numbers started to increase, most importantly in Iowa, due to his constant campaigning in Iowa and the fact that John McCain chose to skip the Iowa caucus and focus on the New Hampshire primary instead. On January 7, 2000 Keyes participated in the Republican debate in Columbia, South Carolina where according to some outlets won or came ahead of McCain. On January 24, the Alaska and Iowa caucuses were held with Alan Keyes coming narrowly in third by only .03% to Bush and McCain in Alaska and third place in front of McCain in Iowa, exceeding what he was expected to receive. After his strong showings in both Alaska and Iowa news outlets began stating that the momentum he gained, his seamless unending rhetoric and his growing campaign contributions will carry him through New Hampshire.


Decline

After performing well in the Iowa Caucus and in the debates and drawing crowds that rivaled Bush's in size many pundits began to believe that Keyes could achieve the Republican nomination if he had a strong showing in New Hampshire. However, it floundered, due to Senator
John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
's strong campaigning in New Hampshire and his infamous mosh pit moment in Iowa on February 1, Keyes came in fourth and received zero delegates. For the rest of the primaries Keyes would only come close to or defeat McCain five times and would always come in a distant second to Bush after McCain dropped out.


Results

On July 25, 2000 Alan Keyes ended his campaign during the National Convention after he received 985,819 votes and 22 delegates. After the roll call vote his delegate number fell to six, ironically defeating John McCain, the man who doomed his campaign, by five delegates. Popular vote result: *
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
- 12,034,676 (62.00%) *
John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
- 6,061,332 (31.23%) * Alan Keyes - 985,819 (5.08%) * Steve Forbes - 171,860 (0.89%) * Unpledged delegates - 61,246 (0.32%) *
Gary Bauer Gary Lee Bauer (born May 4, 1946) is an American civil servant, activist, and former political candidate. He served in President Ronald Reagan's administration as Under Secretary of Education and Chief Domestic Policy Advisor, and later became p ...
- 60,709 (0.31%) * Orrin Hatch - 15,958 (0.08%)


Aftermath

Chris Jones, Keyes’ national field director, said during the New York primary that “The message is why he’s running,” he says, adding that wins in the primaries may not be in the cards, but, “there are other races to be won — school boards, for example. hose racesneed to be won by people who have heard Alan Keyes speak.” Louis P. Wein a Constitution party candidate for New York's Senate in 2000 that was endorsed by Keyes came in second to last with 0.05%, only defeating the Socialist Workers Party`s candidate by 0.01%. Alan Keyes would later run for Senator of Illinois in
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
losing to future president Barack Obama and in
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
he ran for the Republican and Constitution parties nomination and eventually became the America's Independent Party nominee, where he received 47,941 votes.


Endorsements

Due to his rather small role in the early part of the Republican Primaries, Keyes only managed to receive one endorsement from Representative Tom Coburn from
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...


Political positions

An important factor in Keyes political beliefs has been his staunch belief that the United States needs to be religious and stop its moral decay in order for it to improve its domestic affairs. On abortion, Keyes stated that "If the Declaration of Independence states our creed, there can be no right to abortion, since it means denying the most fundamental right of all, to human offspring in the womb" and that "Medical procedures resulting in the death of an unborn child, except as a collateral and unintended consequence of efforts to save the mother's physical life, are therefore impermissible." On the issue of taxes, Keyes was firmly against the "income tax stating that it is a failed twentieth-century socialist experiment" and "that it makes us vassals of the government", he believed that the income tax should be replaced by a 23% national sales tax saying that "the present tax system which allows you to escape taxation if your wealthy enough to hire accountants and lawyers is what disapportly hits the poor and working class people of this country." Keyes was firmly against welfare believing that "family-destroying welfare system and sex-education courses encourage promiscuity” and that "these programs actually hasten the moral breakdown." Keyes has been consistent on the issue of prayer in school and has believed that "the doctrine of "separation of church and state" is a misinterpretation of the Constitution. The First Amendment prohibition of established religion aims at forbidding all government sponsored coercion of religious conscience. It does not forbid all religious influence upon politics or society."


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keyes, Alan 2000 Republican Party (United States) presidential campaigns 2000 United States presidential campaigns African-American presidential campaigns Black conservatism in the United States