New York — Republican Party leaders in the state of Illinois are having trouble finding a replacement candidate to challenge Barack Obama in a race for the US Senate.
Many political analysts say that Mr Obama, the son of a deceased Kenyan businessman, now appears unbeatable in the November elections.
If he does win, the 42-year-old Chicago attorney will become only the third black person to serve in the Senate in the past 125 years. Mr Obama's election to the 100-member Senate would also focus US media attention on his roots in Kenya and give Africa-related issues higher visibility in Washington.
Mr Obama, a Democrat, held a comfortable lead in voter surveys even before his original Republican opponent, Mr Jack Ryan, was forced to withdraw from the Senate race 10 days ago.
Mr Ryan dropped out after the release of court records containing allegations that in 1998 he had urged his then-wife, Hollywood actress Jeri Ryan, to perform sexual acts with him in front of nightclub audiences. Ms Ryan made those charges in a child-custody battle with Mr Ryan in 2000. The couple had divorced a year earlier.
His decision to quit the race has left Republicans scrambling to field a candidate for a Senate seat they currently hold.
The incumbent senator, Mr Peter Fitzgerald, announced last year that he was retiring and would not seek another six-year term in the upper chamber of the US Congress.
National Republican leaders are worried that the loss of this seat to Mr Obama could help the Democrats gain control of the Senate.
The chamber is currently composed of 51 Republicans, 48 Democrats and one Independent who consistently votes with the Democrats.
Two Republican former governors of Illinois have already declined to take Mr Ryan's place in the race against Mr Obama. Other well-known potential candidates, fearing they would face almost certain defeat, have also spurned requests to pick up the Republican banner.
Although Mr Obama is not personally wealthy, he has raised a significant amount of money for his Senate campaign, and he is winning support from voters of all races and many different political views.
With less than four months remaining until the election, Republican officials privately admit it is probably too late to find the resources and to devise a strategy to defeat Mr Obama.
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But at least a few politicians have expressed willingness to replace Mr Ryan. They include Mr Steve Rauschenberger, an Illinois state legislator, and Mr Jim Oberweis, a wealthy dairy operator.
But both Mr Rauschenberger and Mr Oberweis finished behind Mr Ryan in voting last March to choose the Republican candidate in the Senate race.
The Illinois Republican state committee is expected to meet within the next two weeks to name a new candidate.
