Chicago — Mr Barack Obama is far ahead in his race for a United States Senate seat, according to a new poll.
Mr Obama, a Democrat and the son of a Kenyan economist, holds a 65-24 per cent lead over conservative Republican Alan Keyes in a survey jointly conducted by a Chicago newspaper and television station.
Although both candidates are black, the poll finds that 96 per cent of black voters in the state of Illinois are supporting Mr Obama.
In addition, 51 per cent of those surveyed say they disapprove of the Illinois Republican Party's choice of Mr Keyes as its Senate candidate.
Voter sentiment was apparent at a Chicago parade last weekend at which Mr Obama and Mr Keyes briefly exchanged words. A crowd of spectators then began chanting, "Tell your daddy, tell your mama! O-ba-ma! O-ba-ma"! (It's a pro-Obama slogan that could be translated, tell everybody you know, including your parents, that Obama is the candidate to support).
With the November 2 election now just 10 weeks away, the new poll results highlight the magnitude of the challenge facing Mr Keyes, who launched his campaign only three weeks ago. The original Republican candidate withdrew in June amidst a sex scandal.
Republican leaders settled on Mr Keyes after about half a dozen prominent Illinois politicians declined to enter what they viewed as an unwinnable race. Prior to his selection, Mr Keyes had lived in the state of Maryland, which is more than 1,500 kilometres from Illinois.
Mr Keyes, a fiery orator, has come out swinging.
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He is focusing his attacks on Mr Obama's support for women's right to abortion, which has been legal in the United States for the 30 years but which is strongly opposed by religious conservatives.
Mr Keyes said recently that women who undergo abortions and physicians who perform the procedure are essentially "terrorists". He has also accused Mr Obama of taking "the slaveholders' position" by voting in the Illinois legislature against a Bill that would have outlawed a form of late-term abortion. That vote represented a denial of the principal of equality, Mr Keyes argued, because abortion deprives the unborn of their human rights.
On his part, Mr Obama says of Mr Keyes: "His entire premise is that people that don't share his convictions are bad people".
Mr Obama also defended his vote against the controversial Bill on the grounds that it made no exceptions for cases in which a woman's life is in danger.
From a strategic point of view, Mr Keyes may not have acted wisely in choosing to make opposition to abortion the centrepiece of his campaign. The Senate race poll finds only 28 per cent of Illinois voters favouring tighter restrictions on abortion rights, with 61 per cent saying they support the status quo or want to see existing restrictions loosened.
