The Macaca Campaign

THE last thin hope of Republicans not losing the Senate as well as the House was broken two days after the election when Virginia senator George Allen conceded a 9,000-vote defeat to Democrat James Webb. It was the perfect whimper to accompany the death of the GOP congressional majority-a once highly touted potential presidential candidate vanquished after a humiliating campaign that ended with a brief, hopeless postelection search for additional votes.

In George W. Bush’s annus horribilis, it is only appropriate that Allen too got “thumped.” His fate was tied to Bush’s as went Bush and the war in Iraq, so to a significant degree went Allen. Like Bush, Allen was dogged by negative press coverage, was the focus of an onslaught by left-wing bloggers, and saw what once had been considered political strengths-in Bush’s case resoluteness, in Allen’s a good-ol’-boy bonhomie-turn into liabilities.

About the Author

Rich Lowry

Rich Lowry is the editor in chief of National Review.

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THE last thin hope of Republicans not losing the Senate as well as the House was broken two days after the election when Virginia senator George Allen conceded a 9,000-vote defeat to Democrat James Webb. It was the perfect whimper to accompany the death of the GOP congressional majority-a once highly touted potential presidential candidate vanquished after a humiliating campaign that ended with a brief, hopeless postelection search for additional votes.

In George W. Bush’s annus horribilis, it is only appropriate that Allen too got “thumped.” His fate was tied to Bush’s as went Bush and the war in Iraq, so to a significant degree went Allen. Like Bush, Allen was dogged by negative press coverage, was the focus of an onslaught by left-wing bloggers, and saw what once had been considered political strengths-in Bush’s case resoluteness, in Allen’s a good-ol’-boy bonhomie-turn into liabilities.