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Political Hay
Comeback Cowboy
George Allen’s boots are made for walking back into the Senate. But with Tea Party challengers, is that just what they’ll do?
Virginia’s contest for U.S. Senate was supposed to be the marquee rematch of the 2012 election cycle: former Sen. George Allen vying to unseat the man who narrowly toppled him six years before, Sen. Jim Webb. Cowboy boots versus combat boots all over again.
But the rematch isn’t happening because one of those 2006 combatants won’t be on the ballot. Webb decided against running for reelection. There’s no guarantee Allen will be in contention next November either. Tea Party activist Jamie Radtke and Bishop E.W. Jackson are two likely primary opponents. Prince William County Board of Supervisors chairman Corey Stewart, Congressman Rob Wittman, and Del. Bob Marshall are also taking a look at the race.
Allen nevertheless sounds confident and upbeat. Despite missteps in his own campaign — particularly the “Macaca” moment reported ad nauseam by the Washington Post — and a disastrous year for Republicans in general, Allen lost by just 7,200 votes. Since 2006, the state political climate for Republicans has improved dramatically. If his campaign improves half as much, Allen would have to be the prohibitive favorite. He’d be running without George W. Bush, Iraq, or an unconventional opponent like Webb.
This time around, the albatrosses would mostly hang around the Democrat’s neck: high unemployment, massive budget deficits, burgeoning debt, and an unpopular health care reform law. After a stint with the Democratic National Committee, former Gov. Tim Kaine doesn’t look as post-partisan as he did in 2005 (though national Democrats still consider him the strongest candidate). Public Policy Polling, a Democratic firm, shows Kaine and Allen in a dead heat.
So the big question for Virginia Republicans is whether Allen remains their best standard-bearer for Senate. “I don’t like to lose,” he told TAS. “But it is a humbling experience and you can learn from it.” Allen continues, “I take responsibility for the mistakes in my [2006] campaign.”
It was only the second loss of Allen’s political career. The son of the legendary Washington Redskins coach, Allen finished third out of four candidates in a 1979 bid for the Virginia House of Delegates — his campaign manager reportedly made him wear wingtips instead of his trademark cowboy boots — but went on to be elected delegate, congressman, and governor. In 2000, Allen was the only Republican challenger to beat a sitting Democratic senator.
Running to regain that seat, Allen rails against excessive federal spending. He calls for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, supermajorities for earmarks, and a line-item veto. If Congress fails to pass a budget, like the Democratic majority did last year, Allen would dock members’ pay. Allen favors repealing President Obama’s Affordable Care Act and points out that he — along with then-Sen. John Warner — recommended Henry Hudson, the Virginia jurist who ruled Obamacare unconstitutional, for his current federal judgeship.
Overall, Allen argues that the Tea Party is pushing Virginia and the country back to “common sense conservatism”: energy independence and a limited federal government that focuses on its main constitutional responsibility, national defense. He believes he is a good fit for the commonwealth’s recent rightward shift.
Asked if he thought Republicans did a good job controlling federal spending the last time they were in the majority, Allen isn’t quite as enthusiastic as when he criticized the Democrats but still readily concedes they did not. “I was against overspending then too,” he says. Allen emphasizes that he opposed the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) when it was conceived to bail out Wall Street — he was no longer in the Senate when it passed — and also against the Obama administration’s decision to use TARP funds to bail out automobile manufacturers.
Still, Allen’s Bush-era record is going to come under heavy scrutiny from his likely primary opponents. “The Tea Party movement would not exist today if the Republicans had not failed under the Bush years,” Jamie Radtke said at the inaugural meeting of the Senate Tea Party caucus. Corey Stewart uncorked the following in a television interview: “Sen. Allen was a great governor of Virginia — he really was. But his record in the United States Senate was mediocre.” (Allen does prefer to be addressed as “Governor Allen.”)
Among Virginia Republicans, the battle lines are already drawn: on the one side there are those who believe George Allen was a Tea Party conservative before it was cool. On the other are those who want him to join his rivals Jim Webb and Chuck Robb in retirement.
About the Author
W. James Antle, III, author of the new book Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?, is editor of the Daily Caller News Foundation and a senior editor of The American Spectator. You can follow him on Twitter @jimantle.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (52) | Leave a comment
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PACoug| 3.2.11 @ 7:10AM
I like George Allen, really I do, but we need new blood so badly. Senators with no connections to lobbyists, who can still be swayed by calls from their Tea Party base. There's really no indication George Allen will be useful in the Senate when it comes to the massive and politically painful entitlement cuts that need to happen, let alone zeroing out entire nonessental departments as a down payment on getting into the black.
This debt train will come to a halt one way or another. Either we have men in Washington courageous enough to stop it or gravity will stop it when it hits bottom. I think that will be worse.
So if Allen has a serious opponent who looks less likely to be cozy with any lobbyists and more likely to be in the Tea Party Caucus, I'm supporting that candidate.
Alan Brooks| 3.2.11 @ 5:08PM
Proves that GOP egos are as large as Dems'.
Shamus| 3.2.11 @ 7:17AM
Maybe it's just me, but Allen doesn't seem like the sharpest tool in the shed. On the other hand, he's bound to be better than whatever loser the leftists try to foist on us.
Alan Brooks| 3.2.11 @ 5:10PM
No,
for instance, Clinton turned out to better than Bush 41.
Alan Brooks| 3.2.11 @ 5:12PM
PS,
if you deny it, you are as foolish as leftists who deny to this day that Reagan was better than the Great Howdy Doody from Plains, Georgia.
Michael Tomlinson| 3.3.11 @ 4:21AM
What a stupid statement. The only reason Clinton was "better" is that the Republicans won control of Congress and forced him to adopt welfare reform . . . Even luckier for him despite claiming time and again you couldn't balance the Federal budget the Republicans did and he got the credit for a surplus he believed and said was impossible.
Michael Tomlinson| 3.3.11 @ 4:23AM
P.S. Clinton's real legacy was Osama bin Laden, 9/11 and Barack Hussein Obama's national health care fiasco.
Shamus| 3.3.11 @ 7:29PM
You're comparing apples to oranges. Presidents actually have to do things. Legislators only job is to keep their seat.
Richard Baker| 3.2.11 @ 7:36AM
We need fire in the Senate and Allen doesn't have it. I was in Virginia when he ran against Webb and voted for him, in a losing effort. He seems too whitebread for the job at hand in the Senate. We need a fireball and not another easy-going Senator.
Melvin| 3.2.11 @ 8:01AM
All of the above is absolutely correct. We need a man or a woman that is spewing fire, pissing lighting.
I'm tired of all these perfectly coiffed and dressed Senators and Congressmen. I want a fat or scrawny pug ugly SOB that will leave a path of death and destruction with the Liberals and Progressives ranks, and strike fear the minute they step onto the Capitol grounds.
I want them to be like Chris Christie when a union teacher bemoans about how little their paid, and they respond, "Get another job then."
I want that candidate to tell Eric Holder where he can stick the New Black Panther Party. I want a statesmen that isn't politically correct, advocates border control, and isn't afraid to tell his or her fellow Americans that multiculturalism is nothing more than a bunch of Progressive horse squeeze.
This isn't so much to ask from a candidate is it?
Maxwell| 3.2.11 @ 8:34AM
NO!!
captnjoe| 3.2.11 @ 10:16AM
Run Melvin
Frisbee| 3.2.11 @ 9:44PM
Go Melvin!
NVA Patriot| 3.2.11 @ 8:40AM
Senator Allen demonstrated a distinct lack of fight and lack tactical campaign competence in his last campaign. He continually fed the beast as opposed to moving on with a message people could believe. Also, Senator Allen had dreams of being President and it's hard to be both a Presidential candidate and a Senate Candidate - he lost both races.
Senator Allen has a lot of 'establishment Republican' support which makes him a favorite. However the line "Allen was Tea Party before Tea Party was cool" has been coined by one of George Allen's flacks who has been running to every Tea Party and 912 group he can to attempt to position Senator Allen as the "Tea Party" guy.
It's hurting Allen more than helping. The flack in question was called out by Mark Levin on 17 February in the first hour on another subject. Check for yourself - first hour on Mark's website.
If Allen wants the Tea Party vote - he needs to stop claiming he was Tea Party before there was Tea Party - if that were true there would be no Tea Party and we would not be on the brink of disaster. A disaster to which Allen contributed.
loulou| 3.2.11 @ 10:34AM
George Allen is a good Virginian. He's a gentleman. I hope Radtke, Corey Stewart and Bob Marshall can keep him honest if he does get the nomination. Got to grow a pair.
George S| 3.2.11 @ 9:03AM
Is it that he doesn't like to lose or... that he misses the privileges that come with the Senate?
JohnD| 3.2.11 @ 10:11AM
Just what is a "macaca?"
loulou| 3.2.11 @ 10:32AM
It's a word the Washington Post dreamed up to harrass Allen with. It's a meaningless word. Allen's mistake was to take the WaPo seriously.
JohnD| 3.2.11 @ 11:08AM
Macaca; we have no idea what it means, therefore it must be racist. . .
Biscoto Mostro| 3.2.11 @ 11:52AM
A macaca is a type of useful idiot, such as the CBS reporter sent to Cairo to entertain the crowds.
Occam's Tool| 3.2.11 @ 1:50PM
Wikipedia to the rescue: Macaca[1] is a pejorative epithet used by francophone colonialists in Central Africa's Belgian Congo for the native population.[2] It may be derived from the name of the genus comprising macaque monkeys. The word macaque has also been used as a racial slur. The macaque's genus name, Macaca, is a latinization of the Bantu (Kongo) ma-kako,[3] meaning "monkey".
John| 3.2.11 @ 2:54PM
Ya mean like how Clint uses it to describe Jews?
Inspector Clouseau| 3.2.11 @ 6:29PM
John is a Minkey.
mames| 3.2.11 @ 10:25AM
We need feverish conservatives not good ole boy GOPers. GO home Allen and take a nap.
WB| 3.2.11 @ 11:12AM
Have to agree with virtually all of the posts so far -- Allen had his chance last go round and (fairly or unfairly) he blew it. We need new blood coming into this VA senatorial contest, not old baggage from the last one.
Michael L. Hauschild| 3.2.11 @ 1:41PM
I was once “in power” but unlike these insipient sucklers groping for the government teat I left feeling soiled, frustrated, and used up. While in office I did eliminate the contemporary corruption, but I failed completely at eliminating the systematic dogma of institutional gaming. I am now a dedicated Tea Party “You get one chance” type of guy. My advice to those wishing resurrection, walk away and live with the realization that a Reagan comes along about as often as a Gettysburg Address. The politics of the twenty-first century is that of the “me” generation, and a legislative army of “me” politicians. To accept the responsibility of saving our Republic the last thing we need is someone who previously failed, someone who “wants” back in. Notoriety in a name, sequential generations in a dynasty or the propensity to squander wealth in pursuit of power have all been tried, and have been found lacking.
Stephanie| 3.2.11 @ 1:46PM
He's tired and we in VA don't want him. Go back to your law practice george.
Occam's Tool| 3.2.11 @ 1:51PM
Virginia just needs a Senator who will take the opposite position of Jim Moron, so, I mean Moran.
Webb was a sick, despicable joke. Once he was a patriot.
John Barleycorn| 3.2.11 @ 2:31PM
The truly bad thing is that Webb as despicable joke pales in comparison to the idiot Mark Warner. It truly is a pity that Virginia elected him despite having had 4 years as governor to see him for what he is.
That being said, George Allen needs to take a hike. His day in the sun is past.
loulou| 3.2.11 @ 4:54PM
Jim Moron is a mental case.
Pelligrino| 3.2.11 @ 3:09PM
Here's the deal: Real conservatives think George Allen weak. And there is much to merit that sentiment. His 6 years in the US Senate were indeed weak. One can very fairly say that he is also (along with 600+ some odd national level politicians) fully to blame for our gross growth of government, idiotic pork projects, and the debt passed onto every good American family.
Yes, he fully shares in that blame.
And he was terribly weak to let that "Macaca" word and the Washington Post scuttle his re-election bid. Is that the kind of (lack of) fiber we need once more in the US Senate?
Here's a challenge for George Allen:
He says he's the new top energy resources man to revitalize America's at-home energy industries, get us off dependency of foreign sources of energy, create jobs, and lower overall consumer costs.
Sounds good. These things should be done.
But where is George Allen (a very seasoned man and politician) directly taking on President Obama who has overseen moratoriums on Gulf of Mexico drilling and the shut down of Atlantic Coast drilling? Where is Allen?
Where's his voice on the national level shouting down the idiots who don't let us use our own oil, natural gas, and coal sources?
Haven't heard a peep out of Allen challenging the stupidity of the White House. Have you?
He could show that he's learned and that he's matured. On this issue and with clear statements of how to cut by 30% government (in all areas of our lives), he could show that he merits another look as a US Senator.
Otherwise, he's just a pol who looks good in a suit -- and the joke is on you. On all of us.
Pelligrino| 3.2.11 @ 3:34PM
It is still early days for newly re-elected Senator Dan Coats of Indiana....
So here's the question: Sen. Coats is a retread. He's back. He's back to a job he wanted -- with enough time in the interum to consider how he might be a BETTER US Senator than his last stint.
Okay.
So what is Senator Coats doing? Anyone know?
Yes, it is only 8 weeks into his "old job." But he ought to know more than most exactly what to do.
I think you see my point. Sen. Coats is a retread, a guy who one with at least 45,000 extra votes last November just because of name recognition.
But does Coats deserve it? Is he mature, (improved?) and man and energy-fired enough to get our Republic and future back?
He could/should? be an even stronger voice against the White House agenda than Sen. Mitch McConnell.
(Coats is about as "senior" a statesman as you can get.)
But have we heard from him? What's he vigorously doing to right terrible wrongs wrought upon us by our very own government? (ex. the economic recession)
Geoge Allen is younger, yes. And there are other key differences.
But maybe the joke is on us. These men aspire toward a cush 6-year job with all kinds of perks. The US Senate considers itself a VERY exclusive club.
Is that why they run?
And just every now and again (every Blue Moon) you throw a bone to those who got you there.
Is that how Allen sees it too?
To all of them: "Words are cheap." Terribly cheap.
Clint| 3.2.11 @ 4:03PM
Jamie Radtke's best known as the chairwoman of the Virginia Tea Party Patriots. She was an organizer of the Tea Party rally in Richmond, VA which drew an estimated 2,800 participants.
In 1995, Jamie graduated from Liberty University with a B.S. in Government. Her first exposure to politics came that same year when she worked for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Senator Jesse Helms. During her tenure there, this committee sought to abolish or consolidate three separate federal agencies to eliminate some of the bureaucracy and redundancy of the federal government.
Jamie received her Master of Public Policy from The College of William and Mary in 1998. After graduate school she spent two years at American Management Systems consulting to the Virginia Department of Taxation to help make their daily operations more efficient and cost effective.
http://radtkeforsenate.com/201.....mie-radtke
The Tea Party Rebellion Escalates.
Carpe Diem.
NVA Patriot| 3.2.11 @ 5:07PM
Clint,
Not the forum for this - everyone who reads this website can find Jamie's info. You'd be more helpful to the campaign by hi-liting how Jamie would govern differently than Senator Allen. As of today I could not answer that question and until that answer is there, people won't risk losing a VA senate seat to the Dems should they decide to sacrifice Jim Kane - likely with a big pay-off if he loses - maybe replacing Dodd at his new gig
Clint| 3.2.11 @ 6:32PM
Sorry, I didn't realize that you were the cruise entertainment director.
When do we eat again?
Clint| 3.2.11 @ 6:56PM
Jamie Radtke will be in the Jim DeMint, Rand Paul camp. She won't toe the big-government Republican line. She's a constitutional cutter. Her optimistic and positive demeanor should not be misconstrued. She's principled and tough.
http://radtkeforsenate.com/201.....mie-radtke
The Tea Party Rebellion Escalates.
Carpe Diem.
NVA Patriot| 3.3.11 @ 6:24AM
Name calling the last refuge of a progressive - to borrow from Isaac Asimov/Foundation
Again you're not helping Jamie with Snark; you represent the candidate; do you want everyone to think that if a valid concern is raised that you name call and don't address the concern?
PCP Smoker| 3.2.11 @ 6:40PM
Is she hot? Measurements too.
Shamus| 3.3.11 @ 7:35PM
More important, is she a witch?
Publius| 3.3.11 @ 3:54PM
I know nothing about Ms. Radtke, but this resumee is less than impressive to be a Senator. What experience or background does she have? She has a few degrees? "Oooooh, ahhh." So what. And she got 2,800 people to turn out to a Tea Party rally? It's sort of like giving out tanning lotion to a nudist camp, probably already plenty of market without you having to do anything. 28,000 and maybe I'm impressed, but how much success have we had with the community organizer we have in the White House?
She can be a Senator when she's had a real job, maybe run a business, done something in public service like - the military, law enforcement, work in a hospital, teach in a school, anything.
Right now she's probably a good candidate for state senate or school board. Check in again with us in 15 years.
Pelligrino| 3.4.11 @ 3:41AM
Publius, I have to agree a tad. She is still on the young side. (But maybe that's good; she won't be constantly falling asleep like Hatch, Inhofe, Coats, Lugar, McCain, Leahy, Kohl, Mikulski, Rockefeller, and Lieberman. Even if they were to try to start reading and understanding those bills – they don’t -- but even if they did, they’d be fast asleep within 90 seconds.)
But, please, there is some merit in looking to someone who has not been 1) a career politician (like those state reps you mention), and 2) a lawyer. Don't we have so many of those types?
And -- as far as I can tell -- she's not moneyed establishment. Oh how nice it would be to again have a US Senator that has to worry about penny pinching in the family budget like the rest of us. Or do you just like millionaires who think you a schmuck, Publius?
The condescension from Washington, D.C. toward us Ma & Pa types is REAL.
Would it be wrong to conclude that "those types" (lawyers and careerist politicians) are exactly what has gotten us to a) national bankruptcy, b) no secure borders in a post 9/11 terror & never-ending international drug cartels war, c) failed education system, d) governmental growth exponentially, and e) no accountability for anything in Washington, D.C.
On the "however" side in favor of one like Ms. Radke, I would say that it would be very interesting to have directly in the US Senate a parent who homeschooled their own children. When I hear of what parents do (preparing, researching, collaborating, organizing, whew!) to homeschool successfully, I am truly impressed.
I think she could then very accurately comment on the abject failures of our public school systems. And that's states & national failure -- every year.
To top it off, she seems to have a real personal, sincere Christian faith. How refreshing. (i.e. not fake like so many of our pols that just show up every fortnight somewhere to look religious)
Our Founders did have real and genuine Christian faith; maybe we need to jettison the stranglehold that the secularists have on our national throat & soul.
Publius| 3.5.11 @ 4:30PM
I want someone who has done something with their life besides go to school, is that too much to ask?
I agree there are plenty of lawyers who are politicians, but that is not an automatic disqualifier. Chris Christie was a career prosecutor, as was Rudy Giuliani and I think both of them in their way were excellent choices for their respective positions, so let's not dismiss lawyers per see. But on the other hand, I think that electing Ben Quayle to Congress based on his name, as someone who has done nothing besides go to law school and practiced a few years is a travesty.
But do you think we would half the problems we have if BHO had ever had a real job? Think if he'd ever had to stand radio watch in the military, worked as a public defender or prosecutor, ridden on an ambulance, taught grade school in an inner city public school, or done anything that involves real problems and the real world? So Ms. Radtke's academic credentials seem to be her only real achievements, and I think it's too big a jump to go to the Senate with that.
jomo2009| 3.2.11 @ 4:41PM
Like most of the respondents here I too have warm feelings for George Allen the man. However, it's increasingly clear that he is very much yesterday's man. Jaime Radtke would probably be the favorite in the primary if not for Allen's presence. That being said, it should be noted that the more crowded the contest grows, the more likely is Allen's nomination. My advice,FWIW, is for some serious thought among the other candidates as who is best able to defeat Allen with the others standing down.
JayDick| 3.2.11 @ 4:52PM
Allen never impressed me as a Senator, although he seemed to be a pretty good governor. I won't vote for him in the primary, but will in the general if he's the nominee. He'd be better than any Democrat.
PCP Smoker| 3.2.11 @ 6:34PM
Levin endorsed him. Hopefully The Great One can let Allen borrow 1/10th of his right testicle for the upcoming one to one against the "eyebrow"
Michael Tomlinson| 3.3.11 @ 4:15AM
I just like seeing a blue skunk like the liberal "Judas" Webb slink off the field with his tail between his legs and play like he wasn't an Obama ass kisser.
Had the Tea Party candidates not been on the ballot in DE, NV and CO it is likely Harry Reid would be former Senator Reid and Mitch McConnell would be the majority leader as the O'Donnell "magic" wouldn't have hurt Republicans in other states.
Spoonman| 3.3.11 @ 6:15AM
Any candidate who indicates that they perfer to be called "Governor or Senator" when they have not been elected to either position for many years has an ego that is way too big for me! Sounds like Barbara Boxer perferring to be called "Senator".
Pelligrino| 3.4.11 @ 3:01AM
Well said, Spoonman. You are 100% on target. It is astute of you to point this out.
We are ALL just plain folk in the USA. All of us.
Mr. Allen ought to suffice. (The same for any of them -- no titles)
We come into this world utterly naked and we depart it just the same. And we're all just made of plain dirt (sand).
Dee See| 3.3.11 @ 9:28PM
---Globalist biz-nihilists and cosmocrats
REALLY should desert BOTH parties and
found a new one entirely of their own ---before
that HUAC meets NUREMBERG tribunal
gets seriously underway...
Oh No| 3.5.11 @ 9:53PM
Levin's recurring softball interviews with George Allen are disgusting. No mention at all of Medicare Prescription Drugs, No Child Left Behind, etc. - terrible ideas he had the power to stop. Ditto for the sudden reappearance of Rick Santorum. You guys had your chance and you blew it.
Ken Hill | 3.6.11 @ 6:09PM
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العاب بنات | 4.11.12 @ 6:08PM
But where is George Allen (a very seasoned man and politician) directly taking on President Obama who has overseen moratoriums on Gulf of Mexico drilling and the shut down of Atlantic Coast drilling? Where is Allen?