That clown act wouldn't be there today if it wasn't for an even more spectacular clown act pulled by a "Conservative Republican" (Dave Syverson I'm talking about you).
In 2004 the Republican nominee for senate withdrew when it was discovered his wife had divorced him because of the live sex clubs he liked to drag her to.
So instead of nominating the runner up in the primary (Jim Oberweiss, whom I had done some campaign stuff for) out of nowhere Syverson used his clout to make Allen Keyes the nominee because he liked his radio show. Keyes had never set foot in Illinois and had no possibility whatsoever of winning.