In Wake of Scandal, Hayes Draws Attention

“Interviewing like crazy,” Isaac Hayes tweeted Wednesday afternoon.

After being almost completely ignored by the press, Hayes is now being “bombarded” (his word) by media inquiries the last 48 hours. He has suddenly garnered face time on all the major Chicago television network affiliates, all thanks to the scandal that has engulfed Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., the man Hayes is trying to unseat from the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Recent developments have drawn attention to my candidacy, but my message has been the same since August of last year,” Hayes said.

What’s next? $100,000, Hayes hopes.

It’s not a huge sum by political war chest standards. But it’s a meaningful amount for this candidate.

Hayes says that’s the threshold for his race set by the National Republican Congressional Committee for him to qualify as a Republican Young Gun. If he meets that mark, he’ll get a more serious look – and potential money – from the national party apparatus. The NRCC declined to confirm the amount.

Hayes says he has around $70,000 in his coffers right now, and hopes to creep closer to the six-figure mark with an Oct. 5 fundraiser hosted by Dan Proft, the political strategist and WLS-AM commentator who ran unsuccessfully in the recent Republican gubernatorial primary.

Hayes got his foot into the political door in 2008, managing Antoine Members‘ campaign against Bobby Rush. A youth minister at Apostolic Church of God who touts his 15 years of experience working with inner-city youth, Hayes said that he felt now was the time to take his work “to the next level.”

“This is a change election and I felt irrespective of whether we got press coverage or not, that I have been working the ground, greeting voters, I thought we were going to win this election by an under-the-radar campaign,” Hayes said.

A parsimonious operation from the beginning, Hayes’ campaign was born of social media – Facebook page (which now has over 1,100 supporters), and a Twitter feed.

On Oct. 15, Hayes will host Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, as the RNC head swings through town on his “Fire Pelosi” bus tour.

Hayes describes his campaign as “a ragtag group of people who are just fed up with the political establishment.”

His events coordinator is Judy Ogalla, who lost a Republican primary bid for the Illinois State Senate . Hayes’ press secretary, Janet Restivo, previously worked for Ogallas’ campaign.

Hayes said he has had only one interaction with Jackson – at a town hall the Congressman held last summer in support of President Barack Obama’s health care initiative at a public library in Hegewisch.

“With these underdog races,” said Proft, “the first thing people will look at when something happens to Jesse Jackson, is whether the guy running against him is credible and a good candidate. Isaac is a good candidate and everybody knows it. Isaac has been campaigning for the seat in better part of last year.”

Although fundraising is going to be tough, Proft said that there are money-raising opportunities for Hayes, and in Chicago.

“There are 175,000 millionaires in Cook County alone and many of those folks are Republican,” said Proft. “So the way Isaac can position himself as cause célèbre, you can raise a lot of money from folks that max out even if they don’t live in his district.”

Proft argues that if Hayes were to raise money from outside of his district, or outside the state, he would be immune from attacks because of the allegations against Jackson.

On Tuesday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Jackson participated in conversations with fundraisers about raising millions of dollars in political donations for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich in exchange for an appointment to the U.S. Senate.

“To the extent that the race tightens up and becomes a slugfest,” said Proft, “Jesse Jackson has a real difficulty making the allegation, ‘you are getting outside money.’”