GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - Sex scandal drives Ryan from race

After four days of humiliating media coverage over old allegations he took his wife to sex clubs, Republican Jack Ryan folded his U.S. Senate campaign Friday, saying he had no stomach for the "brutal, scorched-earth campaign" he would need to run to have any chance of winning.

"It would have required him to go nuclear for four months," a campaign source said. "But that is not the kind of campaign Jack Ryan wanted to run."

Ryan's decision leaves Republicans scrambling to find a replacement to go up against Democratic front-runner Barack Obama. Several potential candidates already have tossed their hats into the ring, but GOP leaders did not try to sugarcoat the situation.
"Obviously, this has been a bad week and really a tough time for our party and our state," said state GOP Chairwoman Judy Baar Topinka. "Jack was a good candidate with a lot of good ideas. But it probably would have been overshadowed by this controversy."

Ryan's exodus capped a media and political firestorm that began Monday with the release of sealed court documents from 2000 and 2001 from a child custody battle with Hollywood actress Jeri Ryan after the couple's 1999 divorce.

Ryan, 44, an investment banker turned teacher, spent much of the week trying to put the best face on the embarrassing situation. But he ended his race Friday without making any public appearances. He issued a short statement that said media that have "gotten out of control" made it impossible to wage "a vigorous debate on the issues."

"What would take place, rather, is a brutal, scorched-earth campaign -- the kind of campaign that has turned off so many voters, the kind of politics I refuse to play," the Wilmette Republican said. "Accordingly, I am today withdrawing from the race."

Overnight polling results Ryan received Friday morning showed "there was a very big mountain in front, but that we believed it was possible to climb that mountain," a source close to the campaign said.

"There is enough good opposition research to defeat Barack Obama, to make clear to the voters of Illinois that he should not be a member of the United States Senate, but that is not the kind of campaign that Jack Ryan wanted to run."

Obama paid tribute to Ryan for his work as an inner-city teacher and civic leader and lamented the "toxic blend of personal intimacy and politics that has been occurring over the last several years."

"What happened to [Ryan] over the last three days was unfortunate," Obama said. "It's not something I certainly would wish on anybody."

Former Gov. Jim Edgar said Ryan "made the right decision."

"I know it's a tough decision for him, but it was obvious this issue wasn't going to go away," said Edgar, saying he bore Ryan no ill will for not telling him everything that was in the files in a telephone call last Sunday. "I wasn't angry. . . . I felt sorry for him because here's something that happened before, and he felt like he was, you know, in the right, but people perceived it differently."

Jeri Ryan accused Jack Ryan of insisting during their marriage that she go to sex clubs, where he asked her to have sex with him while others watched. Jack Ryan denied the charges at the time.

Jeri Ryan issued a statement Friday saying "it is discouraging and disappointing that a private matter became public, as it in no way affected Jack's ability to serve the people of the state of Illinois."

Edgar said he believed anyone who wants to replace Ryan will be fully screened by party leaders, including being asked about past divorces or potential sex scandals. "I'm sure that there will be questions asked, things about background that maybe didn't come up in a primary campaign."

Naming a replacement is up to the 19 elected members of the Republican State Central Committee, which will solicit opinions from GOP leaders and activists. "We're going to try to get this answer within three weeks," Topinka said.

Republicans are already lining up for consideration.

"If the circumstances are right, and we can organize a campaign to win, I'm very interested," said state Sen. Steve Rauschenberger, who finished third behind Ryan in the primary.

Dairy magnate Jim Oberweis, who finished second in the primary, said he also is interested, although he acknowledged that the hard stance he took against President Bush's immigration reform plan might have alienated some party leaders close to the president.

"Certainly, if the party asks me to be involved, I would want to be involved,'' Oberweis said.

Other potential replacements include Chicago businessman Ron Gidwitz, Glenview businessman Andy McKenna Jr. and former Illinois first lady Jayne Thompson.

Thompson and Gidwitz would be first-time candidates. McKenna finished fourth in the primary.

"The Illinois Republican Party is fortunate to have a number of talented and qualified candidates," said U.S. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.).

But another party leader added, "We're just not going to ever nominate a guy named Ryan again."