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U.S. Senator Ditka?

Friday, July 09, 2004

Steve Rauschenberger took his name out of the running to replace Jack Ryan as the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Thursday, leaving the GOP scrambling to come up with a name for the fall ballot.

That has some party leaders hoping they can change Rauschenberger's mind and others dreaming of someone entirely different — Mike Ditka.

"Mike Ditka would be a great candidate because he represents the average Illinoisan. He's just a decent, ordinary guy that worked hard and wasn't handed anything but made it successful," said state Sen. Dave Syverson of Rockford, a member of the Republican State Central Committee.

Even Rauschenberger praised Ditka as a possible candidate, although no one seemed to know whether he was even interested in the job. Messages left for Ditka Thursday through his restaurant were not immediately returned.

Rauschenberger wanted the Republican nomination but decided he couldn't come up with the millions of dollars needed to compete against Obama.

"In a lot of ways, I wish it could have been me. I just couldn't," Rauschenberger said.

He said he could have raised the money if he had started earlier, but many in Washington have already written off Illinois. "The people who work on helping raise money and donate to races ... are already gone," he said.

Ditka's name infringing on Rauschenberger's world is, in a way, a role reversal. In January, while Bears' general manager Jerry Angelo was searching for a new coach, Rauschenberger filled out an application for the job.