In a 30-second ad aired locally during the Super Bowl, Bailey took out his favorite prop, a Black XM-42 Flamethrower Lite, and torched a series of graphics representing conservative bugaboos. (Screengrab of Darren Bailey video)

As Darren Bailey tries to separate himself politically from fellow far right conservative and 12th Congressional District incumbent Mike Bost, he has once again invited Illinois voters to say hello to his little friend.

In a 30-second ad aired locally during the Super Bowl, Bailey took out his favorite prop, a Black XM-42 Flamethrower Lite, and torched a series of graphics representing conservative bugaboos.

Bailey says he intends to “bring Conservative heat” to Washington, D.C., an environment he says is out of touch with voters. He also wants to burn down a few things, including “woke” ideology and “gun grabbers.”

The ad got him some notice. Democratic strategist Jake Lewis tweeted on the website formerly known as Twitter, now X, that “Darren Bailey alone in a field playing with a little flamethrower by himself is actually pretty spot on.”

The new ad is a reprise of the “Roasting pork in Springfield” commercial broadcast during Bailey’s failed 2022 run for Illinois Governor. In it Bailey took out the same Black XM-42 Flamethrower Lite, but where he set ablaze an actual stack of paper (supposed to be the Illinois State Budget) in the 2022 commercial, he torches a few on-screen graphics in his latest video.

In 2022 Bailey stated that he was “ready to take on the establishment in both parties and fight for you.” The new ad replaces Springfield with Washington, D.C. He says he’s “not running for the fame, money, or to be friends with swamp lobbyists” in Washington.

“I’m going to fight for our conservative principles,” he says, by which he means “torching higher spending and out-of-control taxes to a crisp … scorching any efforts by gun grabbers to infringe on our Second Amendment rights” and “roasting the woke liberal ideologies that have no place in our kids’ classrooms and playing fields.”

Facing the camera as the fire at the end of his flame thrower fades to a flicker, Bailey concludes, “It’s time for a little conservative heat in Washington.”

Bailey has talked of a “grass-roots” movement calling him to run for Congress to address voter unhappiness over veteran Washington politicians ignoring their concerns. Unfortunately for him, that supposed voter unhappiness is not reflected in the most recent general election 16 months ago, which Bost won with 75 percent of the vote; he had not faced a primary opponent in his previous three election cycles before this year.

Bost’s conservative bonafides are all but unassailable. A former U.S. Marine, he is endorsed by the NRA and by National Right to Life, and is every bit as anti-“woke” as Bailey. Like Bailey, Bost was previously endorsed by Donald Trump in an earlier political campaign.

The only significant difference is that Bost is on the inside politically, and Bailey is not, something Bailey notes in his new ad: a red banner beneath him reads, “Darren Bailey: Conservative outsider.”

Bailey has attacked Bost as an out-of-touch career politician too willing to compromise and unwilling to fight for conservative principles. Bost says his insider status is the result of a life spent serving the public’s interests, as a volunteer firefighter, county board member, township treasurer, as State Rep. for 20 years and the last nine years in Congress.

The online ad for Bailey’s $600 flame thrower says the device is “Guaranteed to entertain the whole family, and neighborhood!” and touts “The pure joy of the flame shooting 33 feet.” Using the device it says “will forever change your life.”

Whether or not it changes Bailey’s odds against Bost on March 19 is a separate question.