Former senator George Allen is back:
Former Sen. George Allen will announce today that he is seeking to reclaim the Senate seat he lost to Democrat Jim Webb in 2006.
Allen, a Republican, will e-mail a video to supporters in a “soft announcement” that will be followed by a more formal rollout at a later date, said a national Republican consultant who is familiar with Allen’s plans. The video is a way to “get out there and start the conversation,” the consultant said.
Larry Sabato, the University of Virginia professor and director of its Center for Politics, shares his take with National Review Online:
This will surprise no one. George Allen has been running for at least a year. He has spent almost all his adult life in politics, and he obviously misses the spotlight. Even more, he hated losing in 2006, not least because it put an end to his presidential ambitions. No doubt Allen wants revenge, and would like to either beat Jim Webb, or drive him into retirement after just one term.
But it’s not at all clear what will happen. First, to Allen’s surprise, not all Republicans have welcomed him back into the fray. Some see him as yesterday’s man. His votes for big spending during his one Senate term have generated Tea Party opposition. Still, he’ll be favored in the GOP primary next year.
Webb, Obama, and the economy are the keys to the general election. Will Webb run again? Everyone has an opinion but no one outside his family knows. As the incumbent, and one who has done quite a lot for a freshman senator, Webb would be the Democrats’ strongest candidate, despite his obvious distaste for glad-handing. If he doesn’t run, then DNC Chair and former Gov. Tim Kaine will be asked to run. If not Kaine, maybe one of the Democrats’ three remaining congressmen or one of three House members defeated in 2010 will step up.
If the economy recovers before 2012, then Obama will pour resources into Virginia—which he carried in 2008 with 52.6%, a better showing than in Florida or North Carolina. Obama won’t want to lose all his Southern states, and a big Virginia presidential turnout could produce substantial coattails for the Democratic nominee. After all, it is very hard to imagine many voters choosing a split-ticket of Obama and Allen.
But if Obama and the economy fare poorly in ’12, or if Virginia Democrats can’t get their act together quickly, then Virginia’s recent Republican trend could continue. George Allen might join the circle of politics’ comeback kids, such as Dan Coats and Jerry Brown. Plan on a long, hot, nasty, and expensive campaign.
If Virginia Republicans nominate this man, they will deserve their inevitable defeat. A proven loser with no platform except himself as Senator.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWith a lifetime ACU rating of 92.6, George Allen is hardly a flaming liberal in GOP ranks. The Tea Party did not exist in 2006 the last time he ran and his basic philosophy would not offend Tea Party sympathizers nor older traditional Republicans so he looks like a candidate more likely to unite the party than some others. While Sabato might think of Allen as "yesterday's man" the same can also be said of Jim Webb who is not a darling of the northern Virginia progressives who only backed him in 2006 because they wanted to pick up the seat. I am not sure if Webb has been happy with the limits of his office and he might be restless and a little bored by now. Staying on with no name competitor is one thing, but if he has to fight just to hang around it might not be the same excitement a new challenger has the in first time run for office expecially if you do not love to glad hand. With George Allen in, the Virginia seat is much more competititve than with him out. Allen could win in 2012 exactly the same way Webb won in 2006, just by being in the right place at the right time.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI will vote for a potato on a stick before I'll vote for Jim Webb. After his disingenuous flirting with opposition to Obamacare, when he had an opportunity to make a stand and shut it down--he took the easy way out and voted with the left. I'm self-employed, and Webb voted to wreck my health insurance and thus my financial life. He thinks we'll forget that when he talks about his great military past. I won't forget. Virginia Republicans must remember that Webb is no better than any other statist Dem, and his pro-military bona fides don't change that. Send him home.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm with Barry on this one....As a VA voter and lifelong conservative Allen doesn't get my vote in the primary election or the general.
I don't know how anyone could see that video and conclude anything other than this guy's a jerk who's unfit for any public office. Certainly not as a representative of a GOP that has to do a better job attracting minorities.
But of course Allen supporters continue to be in denial blaming all his problems on the press--a very Palinesque approach.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLarry Sabato should recuse himself from any dicussion of George Allen and Jim Webb. Sabato essentially endorsed Webb the last time and it is obvious that he has personal issues with Allen dating to their time at college together.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's fair to say George Allen's idiotic blunders in 2006 cost Republicans the Senate. He worked very hard to lose that race - Webb ran a lackluster campaign, and the state wasn't nearly as "purple" as it had become by 2008.
Yes, the media - and the Washington Post in particular - was unrelenting in its coverage of the "macaca" business. But Allen did that to himself, and it was inexplicably stupid. And once he was in the hole, he kept digging.
Here's a bit of extra color. Sabato himself, a UVA classmate and longtime rival of Allen's, played a major part in fueling that "macaca" fire. I've watched him closely over the years, and this was far and away the most he's ever injected himself personally into a campaign that he was "covering."
I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that Larry Sabato's complicity in the (admittedly self-initiated) meltdown of George Allen cost the Republicans the Senate, which was in turn instrumental in weakening the last two years of the Bush presidency and setting the stage for the financial crisis and the Obama election.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAlso, the fact that Jim Webb even has a family will come as a surprise to most Virginia voters. He keeps her well hidden.
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