Jack Ryan's past was laid bare; all the more reason to see John Conyers'

In 2004, Republicans saw Barack Obama coming. His first big step toward the presidency was his run that year for the Senate seat then held by Pete Fitzgerald, R-Ill. Their odds of keeping the seat were slim, but the decaying state Republican Party thought they at least had a good candidate at the time — Jack Ryan, who shared Obama’s relative youth, good looks, and Harvard education.

Ryan had retired in 2000, at age 42, from Goldman Sachs to teach at a predominantly black Catholic school on Chicago’s South Side. He was intelligent and had a very strong resume, and enjoyed backing from all the relevant corners of the party. He won the GOP nomination in March 2004.