Some Republicans worry that the growth of northern Virginia, with its increasingly urban voters and what some pollsters say is discontent with the status quo in Washington, poses a real challenge to their party. Mr. Webb+óGé¼Gäós allies, for their part, worry he will not have enough money to hold his own against Mr. Allen on television.
Link -> http://www.nytimes.c...
As Senator Falters, a Democrat Rises in Virginia
By ROBIN TONER
Published: September 18, 2006
WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 +óGé¼GÇ¥ From the start, the Virginia Senate race was an emblematic campaign for 2006: combat boots vs. cowboy boots, in the inevitable shorthand.
A highly decorated Vietnam veteran and former secretary of the Navy who opposed the war in Iraq (James Webb, Democrat) in an uphill battle against a paragon of sunbelt conservatism with national ambitions (Senator George Allen, Republican.)
But in the past month, ever since Mr. Allen+óGé¼Gäós demeaning reference to a young man of Indian descent at a campaign event, this race has become more than an intriguing clash of symbols; according to the polls, it is now truly competitive.
Increasingly, Democratic strategists see Virginia as a prime target for one of the six seats they need to regain a majority. Perhaps most important for Mr. Webb, whose late-starting campaign has lagged far behind Mr. Allen+óGé¼Gäós in fund-raising, the Democrat+óGé¼Gäós contributions have begun to climb, advisers say. +óGé¼+ôHe+óGé¼Gäós got George Allen on the run in the commonwealth of Virginia,+óGé¼-¥ said Bob Kerrey, former Democratic senator from Nebraska, who was rallying donors at a reception for Mr. Webb last week in New York.
In one of the sharpest exchanges of the campaign, Mr. Webb and Mr. Allen squared off on the war in Iraq on +óGé¼+ôMeet the Press+óGé¼-¥ on NBC on Sunday, with Mr. Allen defending the Bush administration+óGé¼Gäós policy and denouncing the +óGé¼+ôsecond-guessing and Monday-morning quarterbacking+óGé¼-¥ of the critics. +óGé¼+ôWe+óGé¼Gäóre going to need to do what it takes to succeed,+óGé¼-¥ Mr. Allen said, when asked if he would support additional troops in Iraq, +óGé¼+ôbecause it+óGé¼Gäós essential to the security of the United States of America.+óGé¼-¥
Mr. Webb responded: +óGé¼+ôI know what it+óGé¼Gäós like to be on the ground. I know what it+óGé¼Gäós like to fight a war like this, and either +óGé¼GÇ¥ there are limits to what the military can do. Eventually, this is going to have to move into a diplomatic environment, and that+óGé¼Gäós where this administration seems to have blinders. They are not talking to Syria, they are not talking to Iran, and there are ways that we can do this, move this forward.+óGé¼-¥
Mr. Webb also took several digs at what he called +óGé¼+ôtheorists+óGé¼-¥ in the administration and among its allies who know combat only in the abstract. Mr. Allen, like the majority of the current Congress, did not serve in the military.
In recent days, the Allen campaign, acknowledging a newly competitive race, has gone on the attack. A Mason-Dixon poll conducted this month found Mr. Allen+óGé¼Gäós lead, once in the double-digits, had shrunk, with 46 percent for Mr. Allen, 42 percent for Mr. Webb, and a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
For his part, Mr. Webb, 60, a writer and former marine who served four years in the Reagan administration, was rolling through Virginia in a camouflaged Jeep last week, driven by a buddy from Vietnam, reflecting on his long, strange political journey.
He entered the race, his first for elected office, early this year, starting with +óGé¼+ôzero dollars and no staff.+óGé¼-¥ He eventually won the support of national Democrats, who saw him as a compelling voice for their party on national security. He was propelled into the race, Mr. Webb said, in large part by the war in Iraq.
As he is quick to remind his audiences, Mr. Webb spoke out against an invasion early on, arguing that containment had worked in the cold war and would work, again, against Saddam Hussein. American occupation forces in Iraq would +óGé¼+ôquickly become 50,000 terrorist targets,+óGé¼-¥ he warned in an op-ed article in The Washington Post in September 2002. He went to see Mr. Allen to voice his concerns, and said Mr. Allen+óGé¼Gäós position, essentially, was +óGé¼+ôyou+óGé¼Gäóre asking me to be disloyal to my president.+óGé¼-¥
Mr. Webb, who had voted for Mr. Allen, said he left that meeting thinking, +óGé¼+ôBoy, did I make a mistake.+óGé¼-¥ Mr. Allen has said he cast his vote for the war out of loyalty to the country, not the president.
The war is not an abstract issue for Mr. Webb. His son, Jimmy, 24, a lance corporal in the Marines, shipped out to Iraq this month. He wears his son+óGé¼Gäós old combat boots on the campaign trail, in tribute to him and +óGé¼+ôall the people sent into harm+óGé¼Gäós way.+óGé¼-¥
Mr. Webb tells his audiences that the idea came from his son, who noted that Mr. Allen always wore cowboy boots, though +óGé¼+ôthere are no cowboys in Virginia.+óGé¼-¥
Asked at a news conference last week if he felt torn about his son heading to Iraq, given his views on the war, Mr. Webb replied: +óGé¼+ôMy son is doing what our family has always done. I+óGé¼Gäóm very proud of his service. Like most people in the military, we separate politics out from service to country.+óGé¼-¥
imagine if 1/2 of the united states was completely lost!