Mike Ditka, the former coach of the Chicago Bears is currently a restaurateur, sports broadcaster, and real estate investor. He currently resides in Chicago.
I will blame Mike Ditka is Barak Hussein Obama II is elected POTUS because after Jack Ryan's senate campaign self-destructed under a sex scandal in 2004 the Republican Party of Illinois begged 'Iron Mike' to run against Obama, but Ditka refused.
I remember standing in the middle of the crowd outside Ditka's Restaurant on Chestnut Street in the affluent neighborhood called 'Gold Coast' in Chicago while Judy Barr Topinka, then the Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, made her case to Ditka. I remember how disappointed the crowd was when the announcement was made that Ditka would not run citing reasons that were all quite selfish.
Eventually, the Illinois Republicans went to 'Plan B', then 'Plan C' an so on until Alan Keyes agreed to run. By then the damage was done.
Most political experts agree that had Ditka agreed to run, today 98% of Americans would have never heard of Barak Hussein Obama II.