For many Virginians, last night’s final debate between Republican incumbent Senator George Allen and Democratic challenger Jim Webb was the first opportunity to see the candidates together. I had one at my house last night. She is not a political junkie, like those among the blogsphere, but she is a newspaper reader and therefore, pretty much up to speed on the issues of the day.
She groaned at Allen’s smooth delivery of the party line. She was impressed with Webb’s answers. I believe Webb’s performance made her feel better about her choice for Senator.
It’s hard to watch a debate when the two other people in the room are hooting and hollering at the candidates’ answers. As the result, I’ll be watching the debate again. My initial take was that Allen was just too smooth, too rehearsed. And Webb appeared tired – perhaps as much over the nature of this campaign as well as the physical and emotional toll that running for office takes.
One thing that was clear from Allen’s statements: he intends to try to portray Webb as a liberal in the mold of Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and Ted Kennedy. Expect the rest of the campaign to be about what his base believes Democrats stand for: tax and spend. Webb will have to counter this without being defensive, and he has to do it in such a way that Virginians can understand. No long, drawn out explanations are necessary. Every time Allen says tax and spend, he should counter with tax cuts and spend, which is what we have seen over the last six years of the Bush administration. Every time Allen says Hillary Clinton, Webb should say George Bush. (And throw Mark Foley in the mix, too.)
Allen appealed to his base last night, and threw in an appeal to the Democratic base by playing the Benny Lambert card yet again. Webb made a broad appeal to moderate Republicans and threw a bone at his base by mentioning the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus endorsement. Webb has to get more specific on this – because many people have no idea who the VLBC is – by saying Allen got one black senator and I have the endorsement of all the rest: four senators and eight delegates.
As for a winner – well, it depends on your point of view. It seems that Allen supporters thought he won and Webb supporters thought he won. I don’t think anybody won. And I wish this was not the last of the debates.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Foley gave a lot of money to a lot of different Republican candidates. Foley had collected a lot of campaign money, but did not need to spend it because he was in a safe seat. So he dispersed some of that money to Republicans who are in close races.
I suspect many people on this blog give money to candidates they have never even met. Giving money to a candidate (especially when it’s not even your money, but money from your campaign fund) does not make for much of a connection.
It’s a no-brainer why Foley would give to Allen’s campaign. Foley is a Republican. And there’s a very real chance that if Allen is elected, the Senate will be split 50-50 and Dick Cheney will cast tie breaking votes in the Senate.
So, if you want Dick Cheney running the Senate (i.e., nothing changes from the current Senate), by all means, vote for Allen.