CHICAGO -- Illinois' northernmost bit is north of Cape Cod and its southern tip is south of Richmond, Va. Scattered the length of the state, from the Wisconsin to the Kentucky border, are fragments of wreckage from the state party that produced the first Republican president -- who was born in Kentucky and nominated by a Republican Party born in Wisconsin, at Ripon. In the last four presidential elections, Republican candidates have averaged just 40 percent of the Illinois vote. In 2004, the Republican Senate candidate, a raging resident of Maryland, won just 27 percent of the vote. Judy Topinka,...