Ditka Rejects GOP Senate Race

Former Chicago Bear player and coach Mike Ditka said Wednesday he would not run for the U.S. Senate, leaving Illinois Republicans still without a replacement candidate less than four months before the election.

Ditka, who first told Illinois Republican Party leaders of his decision, made his announcement outside his Chicago restaurant.

“I don’t know how I’d do on the Senate floor if I got in a confrontation with someone I didn’t appreciate or maybe didn’t appreciate me,” he said.

Republicans had hoped Ditka would step in to replace Jack Ryan, who dropped out nearly three weeks ago over embarrassing allegations in his divorce papers that he took his wife, “Boston Public” actress Jeri Ryan, to sex clubs before they split up. The party’s top choices have refused to run.

Republicans need someone to challenge Democrat Barack Obama, a state senator whose flair has helped attract money and a national following in the party’s progressive wing.

Polls show strong support for Obama, and the Democratic Party on Wednesday offered Obama a national stage, announcing he would be a keynote speaker at the party convention later this month.

There had been a growing sentiment that Ditka, a 64-year-old National Football League Hall of Famer, was perhaps the best shot for the GOP to keep a seat that will be vacated in January when Sen. Peter Fitzgerald retires after one term. A string of Republican leaders had lined up behind Ditka in recent days. With him opting out, the state Republican Central Committee, which will choose the nominee, is left with few possibilities.