DANVILLE – Al Reynolds didn't collect quite enough signatures to qualify to run for state Senate in the 52nd District, he said Tuesday, but he still hopes to be the Republican candidate to oppose Sen. Mike Frerichs, D-Champaign, next fall.

"When I got ready to file, I decided that I didn't have enough good signatures that I thought would overcome somebody's scrutiny," said the Danville man who was an organizer of local "tea party" tax protests earlier this year. "I found signatures there from people who were out of the district, people from Bloomington and Mahomet who had come to my tea parties. They didn't realize that you had to live in the 52nd District."

The Senate district includes nearly all of Vermilion County, and much of Champaign County, including Champaign-Urbana and everything east.

Reynolds said he hopes to be slated as the Republican candidate by GOP officials. But he said he hasn't met yet with Champaign County chief Jason Barickman or Vermilion County Chairman Craig Golden.

"I'm sure they're saying, 'Who are you? You haven't done anything.' I'm sure they have questions about what kind of candidate I'd be," said Reynolds, who moved to Danville two years ago from northern California. "My response is, well, you don't have anyone now. I actually went out and knocked on doors, which should speak to my commitment to the job. When somebody goes out and hits the road that should speak higher than someone just sitting there waiting to be appointed."

The party has until April 5, 2010, to slate a candidate to oppose Frerichs.

Reynolds said he and his supporters collected about 900 signatures and that he needed about 1,000.

"Getting that many signatures in two weeks, I felt pretty good about that," he said. "Getting enough signatures sure would have made it easier to get on the ballot, but it just didn't work out that way."

Reynolds, 64, said he got only "some" Republican Party help passing his petitions of candidacy.

"I didn't even know who the contact was in Champaign County," he said. "A lot of the fault is mine because I just didn't know the ropes. But I'm smarter now."