Ryan Lizza of New Republic spoke to Cook and this is what he got out of him:
1. To be honest, your TNR piece raised a ton of questions about Allen, that further eroded his position, but more than directly hurt him, simply put some suspicions up in the air, floating around. Then when the macaca hit the fan, this incident just began to corroborate some of the questions you raised.
2. In the end, I think the party needing to go in a different direction from a conventional conservative approach was the primary reason for his diminished position in the race for the 2008 nomination. This just puts an exclamation point on the view that Allen is no longer a real contender for the nomination. [Emphasis added]
3. As far as the Senate race is concerned, Virginia just moved up on the consideration list (it had only been on the edge before). [That] doesn't mean that Webb will be fully funded, but rather it will get much more serious consideration, and any future incidents almost guarantee that Webb would get serious national funding.