Below is an interesting article from "The Hotline" about what is on the line in the Webb/Allen Virginia Senate Race in an article titled "The Weekender: The Clash Of The Century."
George Allen is wasting no time going on the attack and he is trying to define and smear Jim Webb in about the exact same way that the Bush campaign tried to define and smear Kerry in the 2004 election:
http://www.georgeallen.com/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=hgITL5PKJtH&b=1612661&ct=2681975
Press Releases
+óGé¼+ôWebb Eluded a Clear Answer+óGé¼-¥ on Iraq Amendment
Democratic Candidate continues Iraq vacillations, contradictions
http://www.georgeallen.com/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=hgITL5PKJtH&b=1612661&ct=2690145
Press Releases
Webb Joins Kerry, Kennedy, Schumer in Opposing Flag Amendment
Protecting Flag Dismissed as +óGé¼-£Divisive Politics+óGé¼Gäó by Webb
We have to know what George Allen's campaign is saying in order to run the best campaign against him!
It needs to be seen that Jim Webb has been critical of both Kerry and Bush in 2004 and that Jim Webb is by no means a stooge for Kerry like how Allen is a stooge for Bush 96% of the time and 100% of the time on the Iraq War:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2004-02-18-veterans-edit_x.htm
Posted 2/18/2004 8:03 PM
Veterans face conundrum: Kerry or Bush?
By James Webb
The answer to John Kerry (and even Ted Kennedy and Chuck Schumer) supporting Jim Webb is that Webb is running an all inclusive campaign which also includes support from disillusioned Republicans, moderate Democrats such as Harry Reid (who is a Pro-Life Democrat), and support from a wide range of people with different opinions on some issues but who are all in agreement that they do not want to see George Allen sent back to the Senate where he will just be a rubber stamp for Bush on the Iraq war (when he is actually in the Senate and is not running for President)!
Many liberals, moderates, and even mainstream conservatives can rally to support Jim Webb because they are ALL in agreement that Bush+óGé¼Gäós Iraq War policy of "stay the course" with no real strategy is wrong and that Jim Webb needs to be elected to the Senate in order to hold Bush accountable for his actions as opposed to George Allen going back to the Senate to only be a rubber stamp for whatever Bush decides to do 96% of the time and 100% of the time on the Iraq War!
That should be a simple enough explanation for anyone to understand. Jim Webb is trying to unite people while George Allen is continually dividing people with wedge issues and swift boat type smear tactics!
When you look at what George Allen says in his Press Releases, please ask yourself what is Allen saying that will actually improve the lives of people and improve circumstances in the world?
The answer to me is nothing because Allen is only trying to define and smear Jim Webb and he is telling people to stay on Bush's course in Iraq which is not a real strategy. That will NOT improve people's lives or circumstances in the world!
Please forward this on, especially to people in Virginia!
Mitch Dworkin
http://securingamerica.com/webb
Gen. Wes Clark's endorsement of Jim Webb against George Allen
http://www.webbforsenate.com/
Jim Webb for Senate website
http://webb.bluestatedigital.com/page/s/join
Sign up to receive Jim Webb for Senate campaign E Mails!
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http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/06/post_17.html
June 23, 2006
The Weekender: The Clash Of The Century
Welcome to the Weekender. It's a new On Call experiment. Each Friday, we'll end the day with a longish post that probes an idea or a contested race or a political development that fascinates us. Last week, we gave you four reasons to pay attention to the Southern Baptist Convention's presidential election. This week, we tackle the conventional wisdom that Sen. George Allen+óGé¼Gäós 2008 hopes will be bruised by his competitive race and provide eight other reasons why Allen/Webb is this cycle's Daschle/Thune.
# For the fist time in his political career, Sen. George Allen is not running against the establishment or as the agent of change.
Consider his history: after losing an initial state House campaign (wearing wingtips), Allen put on his now-famous cowboy boots and steered a pickup truck to victory over a 10-year incumbent in a Charlottesville-area General Assembly seat in +óGé¼Gäó82.
When he first ran for Congress 9 years later, he beat a Democrat who represented one of the final branches of Harry Byrd+óGé¼Gäós legacy in the state; the seat had been vacated by D. French Slaughter (R), and Slaughter+óGé¼Gäós Democratic cousin, Kay Slaughter, stepped in to run. Allen won with a platform promising he+óGé¼Gäód go to Washington and fight for Virginia+óGé¼Gäós beleaguered taxpayers. He outspent her two-to-one and successfully portrayed her as too liberal for the conservative district. Curiously +óGé¼GÇ£ a major Allen talking point in that campaign was that Slaughter opposed the first Gulf war. (James Webb, too, opposed the first Gulf War.) BTW: Slaughter's son, French, Jr., was favored to win the GOP nomination in this special election and Allen stomped him.
Allen was the conservative change candidate against the Democratic establishment in 1993 +óGé¼GÇ£ he promised to end 12 years of Democratic foolery in the executive, referring to two-term AG and governor-in-waiting Mary Sue Terry as +óGé¼+ôMary Sue Antoinette+óGé¼-¥. (Among the first lines of his victory speech: +óGé¼+ôThe days of tax-and-spend liberalism in Virginia are over.) He ran on much the same script against incumbent Sen. Charles Robb (D) in '00. Robb was too liberal for the state, Allen charged. The fire-him, hire-me argument worked in part because Allen linked Robb to the eight years of Clintons and reminded VA+óGé¼Gäóians of his ample record as governor. (It+óGé¼Gäós neither here nor there, but the race was also notable for Allen+óGé¼Gäós difficulty with abortion politics.) .
Now, Allen, who frequently refers to his loyal followers as +óGé¼+ôfellow insurgents,+óGé¼-¥ is tasked with defending the president's Iraq position and the work of Republicans in Congress generally from a position of incumbency. Even if he tries to force some daylight between him and Congress -- and we expect this self-styled Jeffersonian conservative to certainly try -- it will be difficult to position himself as the change agent in the race.+óGé¼-¥
## Allen will tout his decades of legislative and gubernatorial experience. Webb will be cast as having a +óGé¼+ôsteep learning curve+óGé¼-¥ about policy. But Allen won+óGé¼Gäót just run a conventional incumbent campaign He+óGé¼Gäós running ads on black radio stations now, directly addressing a vulnerability. He+óGé¼Gäóll portray his position on the war as sound and coherent +óGé¼GÇ£ and Webb+óGé¼Gäós as bizarre and convoluted. He+óGé¼Gäóll do his best not to let Webb define Allen as a Bush Republican or as a stalwart support of the war. He won+óGé¼Gäót be afraid to seek from Webb a full and broad foreign policy vision. [MARC AMBINDER]
## If he beats Webb, Allen will earn the distinction of having successfully defended the Bush Iraq position in a swing(ish) state. No other '08 candidate will have that on their resume. Won+óGé¼Gäót Allen+óGé¼Gäós +óGé¼Gäó08 bid preps suffer from the time distraction? Maybe not. First +óGé¼GÇ£ Allen+óGé¼Gäós longtime friend and aide, Jay Timmons, will keep the fires burning, along with advisers Mary Matalin and Ed Gillespie. Second +óGé¼GÇ£ Allen will run hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of television ads in the Washington, D.C. market during the campaign. They+óGé¼Gäóll be aimed primarily at the press and at Republican insiders. Their message: Allen knows how to define issues; he+óGé¼Gäós an attractive candidate; he can raise money; he can beat Democrats. The upshot: he won+óGé¼Gäót disappear for four months.
## In 2000, Republicans lost five seats in the Senate. Only one Republican beat an incumbent Democrat -- Allen. He saved the Senate for Republicans once before. In '06 Republicans are five seats away from losing the chamber. Imagine if they drop five races but win Allen's, putting Allen in the position of saving their majority. (The veep would break the tie.) Allen+óGé¼Gäós supporters like to note that the current majority +óGé¼GÇ£ 55-44-1 +óGé¼GÇ£ is the party+óGé¼Gäós largest in the Senate since 1928. Allen was NRSC chair in +óGé¼Gäó04.
## Dick Wadhams, who runs Allen's campaign, is one of the country's most talented political pros. His specialty: hard-knuckle contrast politics, dethroning incumbents (think Daschle), engineering come-from-behind victories for other incumbents (think Sen. Wayne Allard and Conrad Burns). But his 2006 race will be considerably different than his 2004 race. Remember when Daschle got in trouble? He justified his bond with African Americans by pointing out that he was a DC resident. The question came to him in the throes of speculation about an '04 presidential bid.
## Allen+óGé¼Gäós senior strategist, Chris LaCivita, is a decorated Marine who has known Webb for years. He has a good sense of Webb+óGé¼Gäós thought patterns and, we bet, his trigger points. LaCivita is uniquely suited to design a contrast strategy against a fellow Marine.. LaCivita knows the sociology of political media better than just about political consultant working for Republicans today.
## Virginians have a special affinity for presidents; it's unclear whether they'll reward Allen for speculating about an '08 bid or punish him for neglecting their interests in favor of Sioux City, Iowa's. Sen+óGé¼Gäós and Govs+óGé¼Gäó are different, but recall that Wilder ran for President in 1992 -- unsuccessfully and without his state's blessing.
## The media will cover the race with resources that only Hillary Clinton's inaugural Senate bid could justify. Virginia is right next to Washington, where the Hotline publishes and most of the nation's national political reporters spend their days. The national issue paradigm will be too hard to ignore; the '08 implications will be irresistible.
## If Webb wins, he can rightly take credit with winning on an anti-war message in a swing state. Yes -- his position on Iraq isn't anti-war and he doesn't favor an immediate pull-out of troops. But there's little doubt that the legions of Virginians who do favor withdrawal will chose the former Navy Secretary as their candidate. If he wins, Dems will (albeit someone late) find their voice on the war. ## The conclusion of Allen/Webb will undoubtedly hinge on national issues more than any other Senate race. For a variety of reasons, though, it's not apparent that the ill-wind blowing against Republicans will hurt Allen more than other state-specific factors like Northern Virginia's growing demographico-political clout and Webb's spectacular biography
Posted at 06:21 PM
Comments
Virginia a swing state? The last time a Democrat won the presidential race in Virginia was, what, Johnson in '64? We Democrats wish Virginia was a swing state, but it ain't swung in an awful long time.
Waldo Jaquith | 06.23.06 05:31 PM