George Allen to announce Senate bid Monday

POLITICO ^ | 1/23/11 | By DAVID CATANESE

[US Navy Vet]

Former Sen. George Allen will end weeks of speculation and formally declare his candidacy for U.S. Senate in Virginia on Monday, two Republican advisers tell POLITICO.

Allen, who has been making all the moves of a candidate in recent weeks, is expected to blast an e-mail to supporters with a video message before alerting the media.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/48027.html#ixzz1BuF8h1kE

[Carling]

George Allen did stay in the race. Webb barely beat him in 2006.

What are you talking about?

[GregH]

Allen is a weak character who gets rolled over by MSM at the slightest opportunity.

He may be conservative but he is a weak candidate, hope he does’nt win the primary.

[BobL]

“IMHO, it is. I wish him luck. He got the shaft with that commie ‘RAT “macaca” fiasco. What a joke.”

One might be able to reasonably conclude that had it not been for “Macaca”, Obama’s health care takeover would have failed.

I wish him luck, in any case.

[rabidralph]

Ha, ha. I misspoke. Allen’s apologizing for macacca made him appear weak and that’s what I was alluding to. His campaign imploded and now, his time has passed.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

The essence of the Macaca thing was not the term or the hyperventilation - but the fact that the opposition campaign was following him 24x7 with video waiting for such an opportunity to exploit. Two lessons - 1) Allen needs to do the same thing to his opponents (in terms of surveillance, not provocation of such an event), and 2) he needs to survey and record his own events, so that context can be given to anything the other side selectively edits and tries to throw and make stick against him as a sound-bite.

Rush Limbaugh is fortunate in a sense that he has had hearing loss - the need for transcription has saved him often, defusing some phony controversies that his opponents have tried to launch against him. In a similar way, Allen and other conservative candidates need to accomplish the same thing, in effect a transcription, of everything they do in a campaign. And then, there needs to be a rapid reaction team that can deliver the record to the media quickly to stamp these false controversies out.

[iceskater]

I didn’t say that. Try to live up to your nick.

I won’t support him in the primary. The general is another question.

[KoRn]

Maybe Allen won’t lead off his campaign by apologizing for “macacca”. If so, he’ll already be ahead of where he was in ‘06. I believe that election might have been stolen anyway. Those late(LATE) reporting precincts from dem strongholds in Northern VA looked awfully dammed suspicious, HOURS after the polls closed on election night. I was on the state elections website watching it.

It was as if they were holding back to see how many votes they needed.

[Clintonfatigued]

I don’t know if this is such a good idea.

[Raider Sam]

What did he do as a Senator that made him not a very good one?

[bmwcyle]

He is not really a RINO but he is a wimp.

[billorites]

"Macaca!"

Gesundheit.

[TribalPrincess2U]

I would think anyone with a little bit of smarts would know what that meant. At least not blindly accept someones words on the spur of the moment.

I don’t know that much about him but I do know Sarah.

[Nuc 1.1]

I was born in VA but have spent my adult life moving around the country. So I cannot help you with that. Allen could have beat Webb but he wouldn't fight after the Macaca incident. I think he had his eyes on higher office but he didn't have the spine to earn it then. Maybe he learned something over the last six years.

[scooby321]

Webb won’t run.

[Carling]

The WaPo wouldn’t run a “macaca” story for weeks on end on Webb, even if Allen had it on tape.

Remember Webb’s pedophilia story in the ‘novel’ that he wrote? That went nowhere, yet if you read it, it is perverted.

[nickcarraway]

He blew it. He was a lousy Senator. He had his chance. Let someone better. No more 2nd or 3rd generation losers like Allen or Bush anymore.

[Nuc 1.1]

Hmmm.

[montag813]

MACACALICIOUS!!!!

[mac_truck]

Jamie Radtke from Richmond is the tea-party candidate for US Senate.

More here Radtke for Senate

[jboot]

Definitely a good thing. Allen is reliably conservative and was a superbly responsive Senator and Governor. The political map has tilted right in VA since the "Bushitler" climate of 2006. Better still, the WAPo has lost much of their former influence. I see Allen winning this round.

That said, the real man to watch down here in VA is Ken Cucinnelli. I expect to see his name on the national scene by 2020.