Black Republican Alan Keyes is Broke - Trying to Sell Old Debate Tapes

Add a Little Keyes to Your Collection. Is your video library lacking that special something? Then visit the Alan Keyes media Web store! "This is your one-stop shop for purchasing all available Alan Keyes multimedia on the web," Keyes' brand new site proclaims. Keyes is selling DVDs and VHS tapes of his Senate campaign debates against (the winner) Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for $20 a pop, or the complete set of three debates for $50. "Not since the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 have the moral issues of the day been deliberated upon at such an intense and impressive level," if Keyes doesn't say so himself. But Keyes' entrepreneurial spirit isn't going over so well with copyrighted owners of those debate videos, including WTTW, Chicago's major PBS affiliate, which sponsored the third and final debate between Obama and Keyes. Mary Field, WTTW's executive producer of news and public affairs, said the station is sending a letter to Keyes asking him to "cease and desist" selling tapes of the debate. "We own the copyright to the tape and he doesn't have permission to sell it," she told HOH. Connie Hair, a spokeswoman for Keyes, said proceeds from the sale of the videos will cover "administrative costs" from the 2004 Senate campaign. HOH had to wonder whether Keyes was raising money to move his family back to Maryland and make a fourth stab at becoming a Senator. But Hair insisted Keyes will not run to succeed the retiring Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.). "This is not any kind of campaign run in Maryland," she said. Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said he "can't imagine why anyone" would want to buy the debate videos. "For $50 you can get the videos, but for free you can figure out who won the election!" he said. Originally published in Roll Call March 16, 2005

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