The Best Competition is No Competition -- Part III: Jack Ryan

Who is Jack Ryan? None other than the third political opponent of Barack Obama to meet their political demise prior to the election. This knock-off rate is enough to make Vladimir Putin jealous.

Jack Ryan was the 2004 Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate in Illinois. By most accounts, the race against Obama was expected to be real, notwithstanding Republican troubles in the state. However, a funny thing happened on the way to the election -- the Chicago Tribune and ABC 7 News in Chicago sued to have Jack Ryan sealed divorce proceedings unsealed in a California court. Had/has the Trib taken such a drastic measure regarding a divorced political candidate prior to or since? Uh no. No matter. In it's ex-post editorial on June 25 tiltled, "Why the Tribune Went to Court," the Trib reasoned:

"This is not the first time that the Tribune has sought access to public
records. Reporters seek all manner of records, from government contracts to the
minutes of village board meetings to the transcripts of the Watergate tapes.
They do so for one reason: so readers are informed."

Yes, so these were the best parallel examples that the Trib could cite -- village board meetings and Watergate from the early 70's? No other divorce records? No other records (e.g., medical or tax returns) of political candidates? Apparently not.

Ryan and his ex-wife resisted the move, and when the court announced that the records would be unsealed, the two were were "disturbed and angered" by the decision. She said that she supported his bid for the Senate and cited no abuse or infidelity. Of course, as is so often the case in divorce proceedings, there were salacious details -- an allegation about a sex club. Soon after, Ryan was forced to resign from as the Republican nominee. He was replaced by a very weak candidate, firebrand Alan Keyes, who was trounced by Obama in the general election.

The point here is that, once again, Obama ran in an election against no, or in this case, nominal competition. Is Obama the luckiest man in the world or what? First Alice Palmer, then Blair Hull, and then Jack Ryan -- all strong candidate weakened or gone before the election.

I wouldn't necessarily call it luck. Look for more on the "or what" scenario in a future post.