Kathryn Jean Lopez wrote a terrific article over at National Review Online highlighting how a number of black Republicans are making a run for a bunch of big elections this election year.

By now you've probably heard that Steelers gridiron great Lynn Swann is shooting for Pennsylvania's highest office. Then there's Maryland's Michael Steele, who has his sights set on retiring Democrat Paul Sarbanes's U.S. Senate seat. Keith Butler, a Detroit-area pastor, is also running for Senate in his home state of Michigan.

One gentleman whose name you best remember is Ken Blackwell. He's an old friend of mine who happens to be Ohio's Secretary of State, and has all the makings of something very special.

A recent article called "Ronald Reagan's Unlikely Heir" had this to say about Blackwell:

"Ken Blackwell has so many people worried because he represents a new political calculus with the power to shake up American politics. For Blackwell is a fiscal and cultural conservative ... who happens to be black with the proven power to attract votes from across a startlingly wide spectrum of the electorate.

Born in the projects of Cincinnati to a meat-packer who preached the work ethic and a nurse who read to him from the bible every evening, Blackwell has rejected the victimology of many black activists and opted for a different path, championing school choice, opposing abortion and advocating low taxes as a road to prosperity. The 57-year-old is equally comfortable preaching that platform to the black urban voters of Cincinnati as to the white German-Americans in Ohio's rural counties or to the state's business community."

Blackwell is the real deal. Keep your eyes on this up and coming GOP star.