Alan Keyes is widely known for his profound skill, eloquence, and knowledge as a debater of public-policy issues. To many observers, his expertise as a debater clearly distingishes him from other national figures.

Even those who oppose what Alan stands for concede that he is a formidable, persuasive defender of his positions — someone they are not anxious to take on directly in formal public debate.

Among those reluctant to debate Alan is Sen. Barack Obama, Alan's opponent in the Illinois U.S. Senate race in 2004. Obama repeatedly avoided publicly debating Alan, insisting on just three debates late in the race, instead of the six debates Obama had promised his original opponent, Jack Ryan.

Once Obama learned who his new opponent was, he immediately dropped his pledge of six debates against his GOP challenger — and later insisted that the first debate be carried live only on radio.

Obama's reluctance to debate Alan Keyes can be traced directly to the 2000 Republican presidential primaries, the televised debates of which Alan was generally credited by the media and internet polls to be the clear winner.

Not only did Alan outshine all other Republican hopefuls in the debates (including our current president), with his articulate logic and appeal to common sense, but he greatly influenced the national agenda itself — increasingly forcing abortion to the fore, along with the "tax slavery" our income tax system represents, and other issues critical to moral conservatives.

Said Alan of his goals at the time:

I aim to strengthen the foundations of political liberty in America. . . . I will labor to abolish the income tax; liberate entrepreneurial and charitable initiative; honor marriage and the family; respect the equal dignity of all human beings, born and unborn; reclaim American sovereignty from global bureaucracy; and show, by word and deed, the role of statesmanship in a free republic.

In the 2000 debates, that's exactly what Alan proceeded to do, winning a million grassroots supporters in the process, along with the respect of his adversaries.

Later that year, Alan debated Harvard law professor (and professed agnostic) Alan Dershowitz on the importance of religion, in a heralded event sponsored by Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The debate is reportedly one of C-SPAN's best-selling videos, and is still widely disseminated among moral conservatives.

In his formal debates and speeches, Alan is famous for the fact that he uses no notes. He speaks entirely extemporaneously, relying on his faith in God and the exceptional communicative talent God has given him to make his case to his listeners.

Concerning his oratorical talent, Alan told a C-SPAN interviewer,

I have done public speaking — and sort of done well at it — since I was in high school. In fact, I was involved a lot in oratorical contests, and speech contests, and debate, and things like that, and did very well. So I guess, in that sense, some kind of speaking ability [in me] has been clear since I was young.

[But] I think it is a mistake to believe that there is some "special skill" in public speaking. . . . There is no good speech apart from the thought that goes into it and is expressed by it. There is no trick involved that can turn something that has no substance into a good speech. . . . Speech is the business through which citizens communicate to each other, and those who are able to do it well are better qualified to lead than others.