As Senator Allen ventures South in anticipation of a Presidential run, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has unexpectedly turned it's attention to the immediate West. As reported by the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza on Friday, Senator Schumer sees the Virginia Senate race as the possible "Cinderella" of the 2006 election cycle. If resources match rhetoric and former Navy Secretary Webb sets a Warner-esque (Mark not ) course through challenging political waters, then maybe, just maybe, Allen will return from South Carolina in November to find his confederate flag and football in a box outside the Russell Senate Building. Hail Mary indeed.
Cillizza "remains skeptical that the Virginia race merits mention in the top-tier of takeover opportunities. First, it's not apparent that first-term Sen. George Allen (R)is particularly vulnerable - regardless of who Democrats nominate to oppose him." Granted, Allen currently leads Webb
50% to 30%. However, Allen may be confronted with a different Webb than the one who enjoys as much name recognition as Alexandria's favorite grocer. Whereas
Allen has $7,182,324 on hand, Webb has $202,987 (in dimes and quarters). If the DSCC matches rhetoric with resources, perhaps the 30% who currently support Webb will get to see what he looks like, and others might decide on the resume rather than the Redskins.
Of course, Allen has reason to worry about his resume (but may derive some comfort from the fact that noone will make him spell "resume"). An article by Ryan Lizza of the New Republic highlights a number of bulletpoints Allen would rather omit.
[W]hile Allen may have genuflected in the direction of Gingrich, he also showed a touch of Strom Thurmond. Campaigning for governor in 1993, he admitted to prominently displaying a Confederate flag in his living room. He said it was part of a flag collection--and had been removed at the start of his gubernatorial bid. When it was learned that he kept a noose hanging on a ficus tree in his law office, he said it was part of a Western memorabilia collection. These explanations may be sincere. But, as a chief executive, he also compiled a controversial record on race. In 1994, he said he would accept an honorary membership at a Richmond social club with a well-known history of discrimination - an invitation that the three previous governors had refused. After an outcry, Allen rejected the offer. He replaced the only black member of the University of Virginia (UVA) Board of Visitors with a white one. He issued a proclamation drafted by the Sons of Confederate Veterans declaring April Confederate History and Heritage Month. The text celebrated Dixie's "four-year struggle for independence and sovereign rights." There was no mention of slavery. After some of the early flaps, a headline in The Washington Post read, "GOVERNOR SEEN LEADING VA. BACK IN TIME."
Of course, Allen would not permit activist historians to rain on his parade. "Under educational guidelines proposed by Allen's administration, which were revised after an uproar, students would have been taught that slaves were 'settlers'." Center for American Progress, May 3, 2006. Although Allen thought the cause of confederates worthy of a 30-day celebration, he would deny "other" American heroes a single day of remembrance. None you would know...
In 1984, he was one of 27 House members to vote against a state holiday commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported, "Allen said the state shouldn't honor a non-Virginian with his own holiday." He was also bothered by the fact that the proposed holiday would fall on the day set aside in Virginia to honor Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. That same year, he did feel the urge to honor one of Virginia's own. He co-sponsored a resolution expressing "regret and sorrow upon the loss" of William Munford Tuck, a politician who opposed every piece of civil rights legislation while in Congress during the 1950s and 1960s and promised "massive resistance" to the Supreme Court's 1954 decision banning segregation. Id.
One final point: never underestimate incompetent campaign staff. Namely, those who link articles like Kathleen Parker's "Left Begins the Racist Smear on George Allen" to the campaign website. Although 9 out of 10 visitors intend to support you, not all are aware of the allegations.
Racism? Senator Allen?
"Allen-the-racist is not a new story, but it just got brand-new wheels with a profile in The New Republic by Ryan Lizza titled: "George Allen's Race Problem," wherein we learn that Allen once had Confederate flag stickers on his red Mustang and wore a Confederate flag lapel pin.
What pin?
It's right there in the picture.
What picture?
In his high school yearbook, circa 1970.
Riiight . . . let me see . . . holy sh#$!