I think there’s a good probability one day a Senator Kirk may leave the party like Crist and Specter.
You've got a seven month timeline to be concerned about. He'll not switch parties for five years after his victory. That may give us IL conservatives time to regroup and find a better candidate, maybe.
He can switch whenever he feels like it. Jeffords had been re-elected 6 months earlier when he switched.
He may never do so, the Maine Twins still haven't. But the point is I don't trust him.
"we got Kirk - who Illinois Republicans supported overwhelmingly (where were all the IL conservatives or did they sit this one out as well?)."
We've already been over that.