Yesterday, I wondered why Sen. Allen was getting a free pass for Jerry Kilgore?s defeat. After all, Allen DID stump with Kilgore and star in ads fawning over his fellow right-wing Republican. Well, the press may be finally starting to wonder whether Sen. Allen also suffered some collateral damage from Kilgore?s disaster:
While Warner is receiving praise for Tuesday?s election, the results were not as friendly to another potential presidential candidate in 2008: U.S. Sen. George Allen of Virginia. Allen campaigned across the state with Republican Jerry W. Kilgore, who lost to Kaine.The outcome may have emboldened Democrats to challenge Allen next year in his re-election bid to the Senate. Former Navy Secretary Jim Webb has acknowledged some interest in running for office but has not made any commitments. Harris Miller, a Fairfax businessman and longtime Democratic activist, is also pondering a run.
?George Allen is an exceptional candidate, and anyone who sells him short on the stump doesn?t know him,? said C. Richard Cranwell, chairman of the state Democratic Party. ?But anyone who thinks he?s invincible better think again.?
Allen already has raised more than $5 million for his Senate campaign, much of it out of state. He has made three trips to New Hampshire.
?I think Tuesday?s race was about Tim Kaine and Jerry Kilgore,? said Jason Miller, a political adviser to Allen. ?It was not a referendum on George Allen and Mark Warner.?
Oh, thou dost protest too much, Mr. Miller! Of course, there are experts still not quite getting it here:
[Jennifer] Duffy, of The Cook Report, said she did not think Tuesday?s election diminished Allen as a Senate or presidential candidate.
It?s true that George Allen didn?t lose as much as Mark Warner gained from Tim Kaine's defeat of Jerry Kilgore. However, nobody can deny that Allen failed to show any strength last week in his own state. That's not very impressive. Obviously, a lack of coattails can be a dangerous sign for a Senator with Presidential aspirations. Or even aspirations to be re-elected in 2006. The question for the press and for experts like Ms. Duffy, then, is this: was Senator Allen hurt ? even just a ?little bit? ? by Kilgore's defeat last Tuesday. And what does this portend for Virginia's junior Senator in 2006 and beyond? Stay tuned...