Hi Soror Steeltrap,
I think that he will be a solid senator. He did very well in the state legislature as IL state senator and while Capitol Hill is different, I don't see him floundering once he gets there.
Yes, that fool Keyes (who isn't even from IL by the way - has a mansion in Maryland and rented a little makeshift apartment here in IL just for the election) got sent home, where I hope that he will stay. Do you know that that fool didn't even have the decency to call Barack Obama and congratulate him? Additionally, after hte race was called for Obama, Alan Keys STILL left his supporters standing down in the hotel ballroom not knowing when he was going to come down and at least thank them for their work. He is a mess. He took so long to come down and thank his supporters (and NEVER called Barack Obama to congratulate him or to even do the traditional conceding of the race, stating that "it's not his traditional so he doens't have to do it") that Barack Obama just went ahead and made his acceptance speech (at a different hotel at which the Barack Obama victory party was held).
There was a strong Republican candidate before Alan Keyes but he dropped out after allegations that he abused his wife when he was married to her. Yet still, Barack Obama got more votes than even the strong Republican candidate did - even before the news of his alleged behavior came out. So there were other Republicans for him to contend with and he ended up beating them.
SC