"You can almost hear a nationwide standing ovation," Jim Clymer, the party's national committee chairman, said. "Ambassador Keyes joins millions of Americans abandoning the party that long ago abandoned them. Keyes had the courage to say what a lot of folks have been thinking for years -- that the Republican Party's leadership is way out of touch with its base."

The paper also reports:

The convention wraps up Saturday with a state roll call to elect a presidential nominee. Alan Keyes, who announced his departure from the Republican Party last week, is seen as the likely Constitution Party nominee.

No other candidate of any prominence has been mentioned as a prospective nominee.

On his campaign web site, Keyes links to an article from World Net Daily titled 8 Reasons I Won't vote for John McCain, which offers a sneak preview of why Keyes in the race will be helping to remind the Religious Right of how what they stand for does not square with the agenda of John McCain.

One of the writer's points is this:

In 2006, McCain was one of only three Republican senators to vote against defining marriage between one man and one woman. Why? McCain said: "I think that gay marriage should be allowed if there's a ceremony kind of thing, if you wanna call it that, I don't have any problem with that." No wonder Dr. James Dobson replied: "Speaking as a private individual, I would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances."

McCain will be caught in a pander dance between John Hagee and the Christian nationalists of the wider Religious Right on one hand; reassuring moderate Republicans that he and his advisors are not tools of the Religious Right on the other; and he will have Alan Keyes rallying the farther precincts of the Religious Right against him.  

James Dobson has already told The Wall Street Journal:

"I have seen no evidence that Sen. McCain is successfully unifying the Republican Party or drawing conservatives into his fold," he said in a written statement, reflecting his personal views. "To the contrary, he seems intent on driving them away."

That said, it seems unlikely that Dobson or other major Religious Right figures will come out for Keyes (they never have before), although it seems likely that large chunks of the Religious Right will offer only tepid support for McCain, (even out of fear of Clinton or Obama.) And while many rank and file and Religious Right leaders will no doubt make their peace with McCain, others clearly will not -- and Alan Keyes will be there to remind them that they have got good reasons.