Analysts: GOP Unlikely to Win Illinois Race

[CShine]

CHICAGO - Illinois Republicans say they can still win the U.S. Senate race in four months even though their candidate resigned amid lurid sex allegations. Political analysts say that would take a miracle. Republicans began searching for possible replacements soon after Jack Ryan stepped down Friday. He is accused of trying to pressure his former wife, television actress Jeri Lynn Ryan, to have sex in public at clubs. Party leaders insist all they need is the right candidate and the right amount of cash.

"There needs to be enough money to get the message out," said state Sen. Dave Syverson, treasurer of the Illinois GOP.

But Kent Redfield, a political science professor at the University of Illinois in Springfield, said the GOP's efforts to win the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald was "an almost impossible task." Democratic state Sen. Barack Obama held a wide lead over Ryan before the scandal broke, and many popular Republicans have kept their names off the list of potential candidates. Kick-starting the campaign of a lesser-known Republican would cost several million dollars, Redfield said. He added that donors are likely to flinch at the prospect of contributing to what many regard as a doomed campaign.

"If it looks unwinnable, it is very difficult to raise money," he said. "You can't win because you can't raise money, and you can't raise money because you can't win."

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