Why Is George Allen Considered a Legitimate Candidate for U.S. Senate?

With the 2011 elections are over, we are now officially in the 2012 election cycle. I know, I know, don't all jump up and down in excitement, try to restrain yourselves! :) Seriously, though, the 2012 races have begun, with Karl Rove's "Super PAC" running demonstrably, categorically fallacious ads on your tee-vee screens; with a bunch of freaks and extremists running to be the Republican nominee for president in 2012; and - believe it or not - with the first Kaine vs. Allen debate scheduled for December 7 (will it be another day that shall live in infamy? heh) in Richmond.The latter item on that list got me to thinking about our old friend George Allen. Specifically, what I've been trying to wrap my brain around is this: how on earth can George Freakin' Allen, who exposed himself as a bigoted moron in 2006, who voted 96% with George W. Bush when he was in the Senate, who hated BEING in the Senate (was bored out of his gourd, compared it to a "wounded sea slug," was desperate to get out of there), who has spent the past few years shilling for dirty energy (for lots of $$$, of course), who  is an utter ignoramus on climate science, and who in every other way is a standard-issue Teapublican't, be considered a serious candidate for U.S. Senate? This is the best Virginia Republicans have to offer? Or is this some sort of bad joke? Oh, and while we're at it, how can the man who for very good reason earned the nickname "Felix Macacawitz" not be trailing Tim Kaine by 20, 30 points? Will Virginia Republicans and Republican-leaning independents just support anyone with an "R" next to their name? Or, are they just so brainwashed by Faux "News," etc., that everything is the Democrats' fault (the exact opposite of reality, of course) that they will vote for anyone who does NOT have a "D" by their name? No matter how you look at it, it's an absurd situation. The fact is, George Allen as a candidate for U.S. Senate should be mocked, scorned, and otherwise laughed at. It certainly shouldn't be taken seriously by anyone with a scintilla of information about who this guy is and what he stands for.