He has been called "America's Master Orator" and simply "The Speaker."
   He regularly whips crowds into a frenzy with his fire-and-brimstone delivery
and can intimidate an opponent into dead silence in a debate.
   So how come Alan Keyes can't get the Republican nomination for
President of the United States?
   Having run unsuccessfully in 1996, and again this year, Keyes is fast becoming the
Don Quixote  of the Republican Party, shaking his fist at threats only he sees,
tilting at the windmills of moral decay and jousting with the forces of liberal
permissiveness in his solitary quest to bring the country back from the brink
of he calls "America's great moral crisis."  And like the Cervantes hero,
many of his contemporaries see him as a noble if misguided warrior,
fiercely determined to carry on a battle he may already have lost.
  With his unwavering agenda of social and fiscal conservatism -
pro-gun, anti-abortion, lower taxes and school choice - you'd
think Keyes would be the natural standard-bearer for the right
wing, but the numbers don't bear that out.  Of the 1,034 delegates
needed to win the nomination at next week's GOP convention
here in Philadelphia, Keyes has 15.  Bush is already over the
top with 1,167 and counting, and even long-gone John McCain
still controls the votes of some 239 delegates.
   With that in mind, Keyes more or less officially dropped out
of the race last week, which he announced in an exclusive City
Paper interview from the suburban Maryland home he shares
with his wife, Jocelyn, and their three children.
   "I'm not sure as a matter with the FEC [Federal Elections
Commision] what the [campaign] committee has done," Keyes says,
"but I do know that in terms of my own approach the campaign has
ended and I am not a candidate now.  There's a matter of the timing
of the formal statement that is made of the committee suspending its
activities and all that kind of paperwork stuff, but in terms of my
going our and campaigning and that kind of thing, that has stopped."
   Even over the phone, Keyes is a commanding presence.
His booming baritone and perfect diction are mesmerizing, his frank
honesty is refreshing, and his crackling intellect is obvious.
But to get the full effect, you have to see him in person.  He never
rehearses and never uses written notes or a TelePrompTer, even
though his speeches can easily last an hour or more.  He pounds
the podium, jabs his finger in the air, and stalks the stage like a
caged tiger.  Part motivational speaker and part Southern preacher,
Keyes can hold a crowd in the palm of his hand and keep them
there for as long as he wants.  Of Keyes' extraordinary speechmaking
prowess, notes columnist and political commentator David Broder
once said, "He makes Jesse Jackson sound like a stutterer."

Alan Keyes, who turns 50 on Aug. 7, grew up the youngest of five
children to a career soldier father and schoolteacher mother.
His father, a U.S. Army sergeant major who served in World
War II, Korea and Vietnam, was a strict disciplinarian and heartfelt
patriot who instilled in his son a love of God, county and sel-discipline
that motivates him to this day.  An exceptionally bright student in
high school, Keyes was encouraged by a teacher to enter the
American Legion national oratorical competition.  He won,
and was soon recruited to give speeches to various groups,
usually veterans.  They flocked in, giving standing ovations to t
he skinny black kid who spoke so eloquently in favor of the
war in Vietnam.
   After graduating from high school in San Antonio, young
Alan enrolled in Cornell University during the height of the
anti-war protests and the Black Power movement.  But as
the son of a soldier who had just returned from Vietnam,
Keyes soon found himself engaged in angry debates and
screaming sessions with the anti-war crowd.  That same year,
1969, Keyes spoke out against the takeover of Cornell's
student center by black militants.  He says he was ostracized
and threatened for his views, and decided to leave Cornell.
Then, after spending nearly a year in Paris, he was admitted to
Harvard, earning a B.A. in Government Affairs in 1972 while
simultaneously honing his skills as an orator and linguist
(he speaks fluent French, Spanish, Russian and Greek).
Immersing himself in the study of the Constitution, the
Declaration of Independence and the writings of the founding
fathers, Keyes became a bona fide constitutional scholar.
After receiving his Ph.D. in Government Affairs from Harvard
in 1979, Keyes joined the U.S. State Department as a Foreign
Service Officer and began his career in public service.
   He knocked around the State Department Diplomatic
Corps for a while, traveling from India to Zimbabwe until
he was noticed by U.N. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick,
who liked what she saw in the young firebrand, and brought
him to the United Nations as an ambassador to the Social
and Economic Council.
   "What first came to my attention very sharply was Alan's
eloquence and passion," says Dr. Kirkpatrick in a phone
interview from her villa in Provence, France.  "I met him at
a conference in Bombay, India where we were debating
the merits of capitalism, socialism and democracy.  Well,
the numbers were about 40 to 1 against those of us on the
side of democracy, and the pro-socialists were really ganging
up on us.  But then a voice spoke up from the back of the
room.  The voice spoke so beautifully and passionately in
defense of democracy that the pro-socialists just sat down
and shut up.  It was like the cavalry riding to the rescue.
He spoke for 15 minutes, and when he was done, everyone
knew the debate was over.  That voice, I found out later
was Alan Keyes.  And as I got to know him my opinion
of him only improved.  He's a brilliant, marvelously
knowledgeable man and I have the utmost respect for him."
   So taken with Keyes was Dr. Kirkpatrick that she lobbied
then-President Ronald Reagan to appoint him to the State
Department, which the president did unhesitatingly.
   "President Reagan was in full support of Alan and thought
very highly of him," Kirkpatrick goes on, "I think the president
recognized Alan as a rising star in government and wanted
very badly to boost his career."
   So in 1985, Alan Keyes became Assistant Secretary of
State for International Organization Affairs, and then in 1988,
ran for the U.S. Senate seat in his adopted home state of Maryland.
He lost, but garnered 38 percent of the vote in the heavily
Democratic state, scaring the bejesus out of incumbent
Sen. Paul Sarbanes.  For Alan Keyes, it was never about
the politics of personality; he was convinced that his message
of conservative, God-driven values was what America needed
to hear, however popular or unpopular that message made him
personally.
   "We will raise the winning standard of American principle high
in this country," Keyes has said, "and we will make it so clear
and unequivocal that we will be like a lightning flash across the
landscape of American depravity, and we will show the way back home."
   "Back home," according to Alan Keyes, is an America where
abortion is a thing of the past, male-female marriage is the only
acceptable union, and government handouts are replaced by a
job and a swift kick in the pants.  Keyes talks a lot about morals.
The breakdown of our nation's morals, he says, is at the root
of our most serious problems.  And he talks a lot about the
"agenda of moral priority" that he believes would pull the
country back from the abyss.
   "I think the most serious issue on that agenda is abortion," he says,
"and the meed to make sure we maintain our commitment to the
principles of the Declaration of Independence that really define
the moral character of the country, principles that begin, of course,
with the premise that our rights come from the Creator, God.
I think sustaining that, so we don't feel that it's merely a matter
of voting or human choice in terms for the rights and justice that
we accord to individuals, including individuals in the womb, I think
that is critical.  It's been critical throughout the history of the country,
on a range of issues including, things like slavery and civil rights,
and continues to be so today.  I think that maintaining our
commitment to those Declaration principles is really the key
moral challenge, and that has practical aspects in terms of
policies that affect the family and its integrity and strength.
Finally, in areas like criminal law enforcement, it governs
whether we're respecting the requirements of a sense of
responsibility, and adopting an ethic that holds individuals
responsible for what they do, encouraging moral character
and order."
   Keyes is unapologetic and unwavering in his views; friends
and enemies alike cite his unwillingness to compromise or back
down.  What is to some an unwavering commitment to ideals
is seen by others as stubborn intractability.  Jacqueline Bodine,
who calls herself an adviser to the Keyes 2000 New Jersey
committee, is an unabashed Keyes fan.  But she also acknowledges
that Keye's evangelical zeal can be seen as a negative.
   "I gravitated toward Dr. Keyes because he's a very unique individual.
He's intelligent and articulate, and he never, never changes his position,
even when it's politically expedient.  I respect that, but some people don't.
Even if you don't agree with his ideas, you have to admit that he's
a phenomenon.  For good ro bad, Alan Keyes is the genuine article.
That's why young people follow him like a prophet.  He says
the things that strike a chord in people, and that's why his is a
grassroots movement.  He doesn't have a huge war chest like
Bush or Gore, but he's head and shoulders above everyone
on both sides of the aisle when it comes to the issues.  He's
smarter and more knowledgeable than Bush and Gore put together,
and by a wide margin.  I'm with him to the bitter end, and if he runs
again in 2004, he can certainly count on me."
   The bitter end, as Bodine puts it, is nigh.   With the campaign
over and the party nomination a foregone conclusion, Keyes
& Co. could pick up their marbles and go home, but if nothing
else, Alan Keyes si a die-hard.  He says he'll be here for the
convention, but hasn't been asked to speak or to participate.
No matter, says Keyes, he just wants to make his point.
   "For me, it's not about winning, or even running," he says,
"I got involved because I think there are ideas that need to be
represented and battles that need to be fought and this was
a good way to present things to people.  I think we did have
a positive impact and are continuing to do so.  So I will look
for a way in which I can be effective and follow it.  If that
involves running for office agin I'll do it.  If it doesn't, I won't."
   If Keyes is noncommittal about his own future, he sure isn't
when the question is the future of his beloved Republican party.
   "The future of the Republican party is entirely dependent
upon what happens at the convention in Philadelphia," Keyes contends.
"If the party stays true to itself and its principles with a platform that's
solidly conservative across the board and a ticket that retains
conservative commitments, especially on the moral issues that
I think are going to be so critical this time around, then I think
the party will be fine and we can mover forward to try to make
the most of things in the fall.   I think if a misguided element in
the leadership should dominate and should lead us to end up
with either a platform or a ticket that doesn't reflect what I think
are pretty strong grassroots feelings on some of these issues,
then I think the party's going to be in serious trouble."
   When asked if he thought George Bush was the right choice
to head the party ticket, Keyes laughs.  "If I thought so,
I wouldn't have run myself."  But he goes right back into
serious mode when questioned about his own chances
of becoming George the younger's running mate.
   "If asked, sure I'd consider ti," he says.  "As I often
tell people, that's not an easy decision for somebody who
has some integrity because you are essentially committing
yourself to a loyal allegiance over the course of years to
the individual whose running mate you consent to be.
That essentially means that during that period of time,
whatever may be your private judgments, you would
have to accept the final say of the president in terms of
your public judgments and loyally defend the program
that the administration is pursuing.  That's putting a lot
of trust in somebody, and I would have to think hard
before I was willing to make that kind of a commitment
to somebody, because I certainly wouldn't want to be
put in a position where you would find that you had made
that commitment and then were forced by it to stand and
defend things you really deeply believe to be wrong.  But
you would have to, in my opinion.  Once you're made that
commitment, in terms of the vice presidency, it is
constitutionally imperative that you keep it because it's not
only a question of personal loyalty, it's actually a question
of not disrupting our constitutional system through the
introduction of any kind of suggestion of a plural executive.
A vice president owes it to the constitution to keep his
mouth shut and do what he has to do."

   It's difficult to imagine a scenario in which Keyes would
even consider keeping his mouth shut.  And there have
been times when it would have been much more prudent
to do so.  In 1992, during a second bid for the U.S. Senate,
Keyes created more controversy by paying himself an
$8,000-per-month salary out of campaign funds.
 The party leadership begged him not to, calling it political
suicide, but Alan Keyes being Alan Keyes, ignored them
and continued drawing the salary.  Voters balked, and Keyes
was trounced by incumbent Democrat Barbara Mikulski,
drawing 29 percent of the vote, 9 percent less than his run
four years earlier.
   In typical Keyes fashion, instead of quietly slipping back
to lick his wounds, he called a news conference and
blasted his critics, saying they wanted to see his children
go hungry and his family living on the street.  Vintage Keyes.
   Paul Ellington, executive director of the Maryland State
Republican Committee, knows Keyes well, and says, that
Keye's stubbornness is both his greatest asset and his
greatest liability.
   "Alan can intellectually defend any position he takes,"
says Ellington, "and has supreme confidence in those positions.
So when his mind is made up, there's no changing it.
But generally, people want a leader who is willing to
compromise, and that's not a word in Alan's vocabulary.
I've never seen him back down or even give an inch,
and I don't thing anyone else has either."
   Ellington says he admires Keyes for his ability to
stand his ground - Keyes' campaign slogan is,
"It's principle that counts!" - but thinks if Keyes would just
soften the edges of his rhetoric a bit, his elect ability would
increase exponentially.
   "I hope there's always a place in public debate for a man
like Alan Keyes," Ellington says, "because America needs
a guy who never wavers from the issues.  It keeps the
other politicians honest, and forces them to focus on the
issues rather than their own electability on those issues.
Plus, Alan is a gentleman, a great family man and a
great American."
   A subject that's rarely talked about in conversations
with or about Keyes is race.  Even though black Republicans
are nowhere near the rare birds they used to be, to find one
as hardcore as Alan Keyes might take some looking.  And
his supporters say that it's a tribute to the advancement of
race relations in this country that Keye's blackness is
largely ignored.
   "In all my experiences working with and for Dr. Keyes,
the race question never came up," says Jacqueline Bodine,
"even when I was knocking on doors and passing out fliers
in all-white neighborhoods, not one person mentioned his
being black and conservative, as though the two were
mutually exclusive.  I think it's great that we have finally
come to a place in this country where a candidate's
color isn't the primary issue, his ideas are."
   Keyes himself admits that his ultraconservative views
have cost him many black voters, but he doesn't care.
   "Sure, it's hurt me to a degree, but it's an education process
where people have to get over prejudices that have been
instilled over the course of many years, but it's like anything else.
If being a Republican has hurt me in the black community,
then it requires some extra effort, just like being a Catholic
has hurt me in other communities and requires some extra
effort.  But you are what you are, and you have to deal
with the consequences whatever they might be, so it's
not, I think, just a question of race."
   No, it's a question of ideas.  Keyes' staunch anti-abortion
stand, his plan to abolish income taxes, his insistence that the
Second Amendment requires all able-bodied Americans to
carry a gun, his anti-gay rhetoric, all point to a man outside
the political mainstream.  Those ideas were rejected twice
by Maryland voters, and rejected twice by national
Republican primary voters.  Which doesn't faze Alan Keyes
one little bit, and won't slow him down when he comes to
town next week, even if the powers that be don't invite
him to speak.
   "At the convention, I'll be working with and talking to
other people of conservative mind, and trying to help where
I can to assure that we get outcomes that are consistent with
the concerns that a lot of people at the grassroots who are
part of my constituency have had over the course of time.
So I'll be trying to play as constructive a role as I can to
produce a platform and a ticket that really corresponds
with the grassroots heart of the party."
   Don't count Keyes out just yet; he may resurface just in
time for 2004.  He'll only be 53 years old, the same age
Bush is now.  And with any luck, four years wiser.  Maybe
he'll let America see another side of Alan Keyes, not just
the right wing hothead, but the smiling, affable, decent guy -
the guy who sings, plays a mean guitar and piano, and watches
Star Trek reruns with his kids.  And that would be just fine
with Dr. Jeane Kirkpatrick.
   "During the nomination process I was supporting JohnMcCain,"
Kirkpatrick says, "but then I thought about how genuinely good
Alan is, and what a fine, fine American.  He'd be splendid
presidential material, and he's just so much better than the
others.  So I thought, ‘Why not Alan?'"
   Alan Keyes may be ready for American,
but is America ready for Alan Keyes?
(Email author:[email protected])

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