I just spoke to former Sen. George Allen (R, Va.) regarding the ouster of Jeff Frederick as Virginia’s GOP chairman. First off, Allen said he has no interest in the position himself, although some have bandied his name about.

“I do appreciate all of these nice, well-meaning folks encouraging me to be chairman,” he said. “The promises, commitments and responsibilities I presently have preclude any ability to assume that chairman’s position. And there’s good folks — whether it’s Sandy Liddy Bourne or Pat Mullins or others — who have the time and desire to do it.”

I also asked him about Frederick’s talk of running to regain the position at the convention in late May, which could create a very destructive division within the party. His answer:

“You never want to tell people that they shouldn’t seek what they want to seek. That’s a judgment that Del. Frederick will have to make. It’s pretty clear from the State Central Committee’s point of view, whatever the number of reasons were for making the tough decision they made, that they thought we needed a new chairman, and then you had all of the members of Congress and Bob McDonnell and many state legislators saying that a change needed to be made. So it’s up to Jeff to make that decision for himself. I’m one who doesn’t ever think that somebody should say, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t run, because that would be disruptive.’ Competition is good…I wouldn’t think he’d have much of a chance, but you don’t know — you just don’t know…The world is controlled by those who show up.”