Chronological order
Lipinski behind Keyes objection? (Eric Zorn led me to the Daily Herald article and quotes my previous post, so thanks on both accounts.)
Eric Krol in his Daily Herald article today puts more dots on the page for us to connect, and they lead to retiring Democrat Congresscritter Bill Lipinski's Chief of Staff, Jerry Hurckes, who is also on the Fair Housing Commission in the Village of Oak Lawn with objector Leonard DeClue. (Hat tip to Eric Krol for good reporting.) The objection does appear to be based on the improper "Resolution to Fill a Vacancy in Nomination" form, which spells big trouble that could include the felony of perjury.
Whether these dots actually connect we'll probably never know, but the following scenario isn't too far into tin-foil hat territory. Who is behind the objection to Keyes other than the objector, DeClue, himself? Well, he might have been recruited by Lipinski Chief of Staff Hurckes on orders from Lipinski himself. It's hard to imagine DeClue would do this on his own or that Hurckes would arrange it without discussing it with Lipinski. And then it is extremely hard to imagine Lipinski doing this without consulting with the Obama campaign. Another dot we need to put on the page is the lawyer who is handling the objection. That will better tell us who is really behind the challenge. Before, I doubted Obama had a connection to this objection, but now I have to believe he was at least in the know.
Why would Lipinski be behind the objection? Who else? He's the perfect goat since he is already the villain right now for his retirement shenanigans by replacing himself with his out-of-state son. If Keyes is thrown off the ballot, the media is going to go after someone and Lipinski is about the best shield for Obama, since Lipinksi has very little to lose now.
This really isn't that bad of a move by the Democrats or Obama if they can successfully deflect the blame away from Obama. Obama doesn't want to debate anyone anyway, so this would get him out of that. Obama would rather hold onto his campaign funds to build a war chest for re-election in 2010 or another office and to throw around money to other Democrats to shore up future support and returned favors within the party. The Democrats would rather use Obama in other close races around the state and country. And let's face it, Democrats, like Republicans, do NOT want a competitive political climate and would prefer as many one party elections as possible based on a massive amount of evidence of past behavior that is even written right into the Illinois Election Laws. I now believe that Obama is in on this somehow. Maybe it's just a stunt and the objection will be dropped with Obama taking credit for "talking" DeClue into withdrawing the objection.
(UPDATE: Vasyl has some very good observations in comments that are perhaps more plausible than my own. Just to further the tin-foil hat angle, I'll also point out Vasyl got a copy of Keyes' filing, but hasn't admitted any involvement. Daniel Vovak, the "wig guy" that interviewed for the Republican slot, also got a copy of Keyes' filing but I can almost guarantee he has nothing to do with this.)
Here's a collection of links on the Keyes objection.