By AP/KWMU
Chicago, ILl. – The five-week search for a new Republican to run for U.S. Senate in Illinois has been narrowed to two contenders.
They are former presidential hopeful Alan Keyes and former Bush administration official Andrea Grubb Barthwell.
State party chairwoman Judy Baar Topinka says Keyes and Barthwell will be interviewed today (Wednesday). Party leaders will then choose one of them to take on Democratic rising star Barack Obama.
That almost assures that Illinois will produce only the fifth black U.S. Senator in the country's history.