Provincialism

And people say the T-D is provincial.

He who is without sin should cast the first stone.

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Extraordinary hassles

There will more traffic than ususal in Richmond and Northern Virginia today. The reason: candidates, not cars.

The rivals for the U.S. Senate are enlisting presidents — past and present — to raise money and rev up the base. These visits also underscore the national significance of the Virginia contest, which could determine continued Republican control of the Senate.

President Bush, whose approval rating has cratered in Virginia, a state he twice carried, appears here at the Science Museum of Virginia with Republican incumbent George Allen. Former President Bill Clinton joins Democrat Jim Webb, once a tough critic of Clinton, at the McLean home of former Sen. Chuck Robb.

Heavy security at both locations likely means it will be tougher for ordinary folks to get around. No doubt Allen and Webb are hoping the ordinary folks who will decide this toss-up race understand. After all, the events are expected to pump hundreds of thousands of dollars into the candidates’ treasuries.

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Allen does some rhetorical peddling

Is George Allen retreating on Iraq, if only a little bit?

Check out this piece.  The Republican senator isn’t proposing that the United States — to use one of his favorite turns of phrase — “tuck tail and run.”

But Allen definitely is peddling, at least rhetorically, a more nuanced view of the war. It’s hard to say why Allen is doing this so close to the Nov. 7 election.

A shift might get Allen in trouble — with his conservative base, with undecided voters, with Democrat Jim Webb, who is running because he opposed the Iraq invasion as a strategic blunder.

Could it be that Allen’s polling, like the public surveys, show more voters worried about the war? Could it be that President Bush’s numbers, already in the tank here, have slipped further?

Or could it be that Allen is making a pitch for moderate Republicans, who may share Sen. John Warner’s view that the situation in Iraq is bad and very soon could get worse.

Warner, a Virginia Republican and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, hasn’t made things any easier for Allen by going public with his worries about Iraq.

Sure, Warner sought to boost Allen’s candidacy this week by appearing with him in a two-minute infomercial. Remember: Warner needs a GOP majority if he’s to have any power in the next Congress.

But perhaps the advertisement, in which Allen and Warner depicted themselves as partners, did more to call attention to Allen’s fealty to an unpopular president’s unpopular policies on an unpopular war.

Iraq also is a factor in editorial endorsements. One of the more significant appeared today in a newspaper to the north.

And no, it isn’t the Washington Times.

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Is Senate race trending Allen’s way?

The U.S. Senate race in Virginia is not a thing of beauty. And in the final three weeks of the campaign, it is likely to get even uglier.

Democrat Jim Webb and his friends are slinging a lot of mud these days. Witness: nasty radio and television commercials produced by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. They say a lot about the contest. But more on that later.

The radio spot, directed at black voters, emphasizes Republican George Allen’s alleged racial insensitivity. The commercial mentions his fascination with the Confederate flag; the hangman’s noose he kept in his law office as well as Allen’s supposed use of the n-word.

The TV commercial is pegged to the controversy surrounding Allen’s personal finances; specifically, his failure to disclose stocks options and his perceived intervention on behalf of a prospective military contractor in which he has a financial stake.

Allen has run television ads trashing Webb for his now-forsaken opposition to women in the military and for invoking the image of the Democrat’s boss as Navy secretary two decades ago — President Ronald Reagan, a Republican.

Allen also is hammering Webb on a favorite Republican issue: taxes. The freshman senator says Webb is for higher taxes, having suggested the government needs more money if it’s going to simultaneously cut taxes and fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But now Allen is trying to take the high road. Last night, he ran another two-minute commercial, this one featuring fellow Republican Sen. John W. Warner, the chairman of the armed services committee and, increasingly, a skeptic of Bush administration policy in Iraq.

There were no references to Allen’s and Warner’s differences on Iraq. Allen has been sticking with the president, even as Warner and other Republican senators, such as John McCain of Arizona, Lindsay Graham of South Carolina and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, sound alarms.

All these commercials suggest that, at this point, perhaps the campaign is being fought on Allen’s terms. The debate is shifting to taxes — a Republican issue. And Democrats are choosing to attack Allen, rather than talk up Webb and his credentials for the Senate.

We still have 21 days to go, and with published polls showing the race a tossup, the campaign could shift again. But you’ve got to think that Allen — with all the mistakes and miscues he’s faced since August — has certain structural advantages over Webb.

They include an experienced grass-roots apparatus and money — tons more than Webb. Remember: money talks in politics, particularly when it comes to the all-important air war.

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Marriage issue generates some heat in Virginia

No doubt the proposed marriage amendment will drive some votes in the Allen-Webb Senate race.

Perhaps that’s why Republican George Allen is running one-minute radio commercials chiding Democrat Jim Webb over his opposition to the amendment.

Allen is for the amendment. He also favors a proposed federal version. Webb is against the Virginia measure, saying it goes too far. However, Webb says marriage should be limited to one man and one woman.

Published polls indicate the Virginia amendment, which would reinforce a statutory ban on same-sex marriage, is likely to pass. But neither the pro’s, nor the anti’s are taking any chances. They, too, are hitting the airwaves.


Virginia is among more than a half-dozen states where voters are considering prohibitions on same-sex marriage. There are suggestions the issue isn’t quite as hot as it once was.

Meantime, the religious community is playing an important role in the Virginia campaign, informing and mobilizing voters on both sides of the issue.

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