Well, Fred Thompson finally pulled the trigger and made it official last week. Newt Gingrich still waits in the wings (and is painting himself as a moderate voice of political reconciliation). It was only a matter of time before quadrennial fringe candidate Alan Keyes jumped into the fray for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination:

On Friday, Sept. 14, Alan Keyes filed a Statement of Candidacy (Form 2) with the Federal Election Commission–thus officially announcing as a Republican candidate for President of the United States.

Keyes told Janet Parshall, host of a nationally syndicated radio show, that he’s “unmoved” by the lack of moral courage shown by the other candidates, among whom he sees no standout who articulates the “key kernel of truth that must, with courage, be presented to our people.”

He added, “The one thing I’ve always been called to do is to raise the standard . . . that there is a national standard of our allegiance to God and His authority that has been the foundation stone of our nation’s life”–and he decried the lack of “forthright, clear, and clarion declaration” from the other candidates concerning this issue…

When we last heard from Ambassador Keyes, he was challenging Barak Obama in the 2004 Illinois senatorial race. Never mind that Keyes is from Maryland - that didn’t seem to matter to the GOP - the chosen candidate of the party was being rocked by a sex scandal (shocking, I know) in Illinois and had to withdraw. The GOP needed an African American answer to Obama at the last moment. Apparently unable to find a black Republican in the state, they reached across several state borders to Keyes, and he obliged.

I listened to a few minutes of Keyes’ interview with Parshall, and as usual, he comes across as a bit of a loon. However, there’s no question that at the Value Voters Debate this coming Monday (9/17), he’ll make a splash. There isn’t one of the participating second-tier GOP candidates (the big boys all declined) who can hold a candle to Keyes when it comes to inflaming xenophobic, jingoistic, homophobic and the New Crusades™ passions in the fundamentalist base. I’m sure that the distinguished group of debate panelists, which includes conservative luminaries such as Paul Weyrich, Phyllis Schlafly, Donald Wildmon and Judge Roy Moore (and moderater Joseph Farah), will be quite kind to Keyes. So, his newly minted candidacy should play well at the debate.

How did Keyes arrive at the decision to get involved again? According to his interview with Parshall, someone who was coordinating the debate stage setup at the Broward Center for Performing Arts in Ft. Lauderdale called him, and said: “I’ll set up a podium if you want to participate.” Hmmm. While the story sounds like an ersatz plotline from Field of Dreams (”build it and they will come”), it’s hard to think of any other logical reason for Keyes to re-board his well worn campaign bus.

Here’s the the good news. If any politician on the planet can out-pander Sam Brownback before a fundamentalist audience, it’s Alan Keyes. In a crowded 2008 GOP field that’s already nuttier than a dollar store fruitcake, Keyes may just be the tastiest slice in the box. Heck, he might even make it worthwhile to tune into the debate on Monday night…oh wait…there’s a football game on…never mind.