Why To Challenge Everywhere

At the beginning of the year, even after the victory of Tim Kaine in the Virginia governor's race, it was extremely likely that Sen. George Allen would receive little more than token opposition. Harris Miller, a telecommunications lobbyist and friend of former Governor Mark Warner, announced in January, but he had a very specific constituency, and was not likely to have made this race any closer than, say, millionaire Jim Pederson in Arizona right now against Sen. Jon Kyl. I don't expect Miller would have received any national campaign money, and Allen would have surged to victory, freeing him up for those trips to New Hampshire and Iowa of which he is so fond.

Jim Webb's presence in the Senate race has forced Allen to barnstorm around Viriginia. It's made him nervous, even if Webb is not within ten points yet (though Allen is still under 50%, and that's a 3 week-old poll). And I submit that it DIRECTLY led to this week's Macaca incident, which for all intents and purposes has ended Allen's Presidential aspirations. Now, he may still win his Senate race. And considering his performance this week, he may have stumbled somewhere else down the line. But George W. Bush was allowed to basically sneak up on the voters in 2000 without facing any significant pressure, and his handlers were able to ferret that empty suit into the White House (thank you, Katherine Harris). Allen is dumber than a bag of hammers, but he could have run the same kind of aw-shucks good ole boy, stage-managed campaign to victory. This guy was the LEADING CANDIDATE for 2008 among insiders in the Beltway, by all accounts. Forget about McCain, or Guiliani, this was the guy the Party was looking to as their next standard-bearer. He was good for the fundies, good for the base, and good on their issues.

This is why you challenge everywhere. Jim Webb is a great candidate, and he's forced George Allen into a horrendous gaffe that would otherwise not have happened in a race that was a foregone conclusion. Win or lose, I don't think we'll see George Allen in New Hampshire very much anymore.