Even his own campaign asked that question in a recent mailing to North Carolina voters.

"There is a battle for the soul of the Republican Party, and the battle lines are starting to form," the mailer said. And those on the right side should cast their votes for Keyes, the conservative, anti-abortion rights activist and two-time presidential candidate.

But the fact that Keyes will not win the Republican presidential nomination or be elected president has not stopped him.

Michigan State University political science professor David Rohde thinks Keyes continues to run simply because he wants to.

"Why would he stop doing what he wants to do? He is in the public eye more than he would be if he withdrew. He is getting his issues in the public eye more," said Rohde. "And, as long as he keeps on as an active candidate, the media has some incentive, and some feel an obligation, to cover him."

Since his surprisingly strong showing in the Iowa caucuses, where he gained 14 percent of the vote, Keyes has fallen off the political radar screen.

He won three delegates Tuesday in Oregon's primary, and five recently in North Carolina, bringing his total to 10 -- 1,024 short of the number needed to win the nomination. (George W. Bush, the presumed GOP nominee, had 1,412 delegates as of Tuesday.)

Yet day after day, week after week, Keyes persists.

Last week, he was in Washington with a group that is suing the Federal Election Commission over the rules for the fall debates, and in Boise, Idaho, for a Keyes 2000 rally.

Keyes even sang his self-written single, "You Are There," on "The Tonight Show" at the urging of host Jay Leno and the audience. Conveniently, he had provided the band with the music beforehand.

But if Bush has the nomination, and winning the presidency is but a dream, why keep running? Keyes declined to be interviewed for this article, but the answer -- as he previously has said -- boils down to his absolute opposition to abortion. He blames it for "the destruction of our moral soul."

"Our rights don't come from God if they are based upon our mother's choice," Keyes told supporters in Alabama. "And once we have banished God from the throne of that authority then we have no claim to liberty or dignity that cannot in the end be trampled down and destroyed by the superior power of force or wealth or ability."

Keyes could address the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. During his first presidential campaign, in 1996, Keyes went to the GOP convention with 15 delegates and endorsed Bob Dole after the party adopted a more conservative, anti-abortion platform.

But Brown University political science professor Darrell West said he doesn't see Keyes with a large role in this year's general campaign between Bush and Democrat Al Gore.

Keyes has made it clear that he is unlikely to support Bush, who opposes abortion but would allow it only in cases of rape, incest or when the pregnancy endangers a woman's life.

"I don't think he is going to have any real influence, just because his base is very narrow," said West. "But, I suspect he will get some play at the convention because he is a good speaker and it is a way for Bush to appease the more conservative wing of the party."

Rohde also doubts that Keyes will be able to influence voters in the fall, even the conservatives who might be compelled by his issues. Exit polls show Keyes' supporters are mostly male, middle-income, middle-aged Protestants, with some college education, who consider themselves conservative.

National public opinion polls last asked about Keyes before the Super Tuesday primaries on March 7, and his signature issue -- abortion -- is low on the list of top voter concerns this year.

But if Pat Buchanan wins the Reform Party nomination and begins pulling conservatives away from Bush, a Keyes endorsement of Bush might be of some importance, Rohde said.