WASHINGTON, 26 August 2006 — George Allen, the ambitious Republican junior senator for Virginia, is losing ground to his opponent in a key race that could help determine whether Democrats can seize control of the Senate in November’s congressional elections.
The latest Rasmussen poll shows Sen. Allen’s lead over the Democrat Jim Webb has shrunk from 11 points a month ago to only five points; 47 percent favored Allen with 42 percent now preferring Webb, a former Marine and Reagan-era Secretary of the Navy, who is one of dozens of veterans seeking national office for the first time.
The Democrats, who need to take six seats from the Republicans in November to capture the Senate, have been counting on swing races — Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Missouri, Montana and Ohio. Recently, though, they have been eyeing Tennessee and Virginia as possible states for an upset.
Republicans across the country are suffering from association with an administration whose Iraq war is becoming increasingly unpopular.
President George W. Bush this week acknowledged that the war was “straining the psyche” of the American people, and Republicans are increasingly questioning the administration over its tactics as references to civil war increase in political discourse. But Allen managed to create more problems for himself recently when at a campaign event he singled out S.R. Sidarth, a Webb staffer of Indian descent who was trailing him, using a reference to a genus of monkey that in some countries is used as a racial slur.
“This fellow over here with the yellow shirt — Macaca or whatever his name is — he’s with my opponent,” said Allen. “Let’s give a welcome to Macaca here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.” The video will be hard for Allen to shake because it shows him pointing to Sidarth and singling him out for derision, and smiling as he needled Sidarth, seemingly enjoying the moment.
Sidarth, who was born just outside Washington in Fairfax County, Va., said he felt Allen was singling him out by race.
Allen, who is considering a presidential run in 2008, immediately came under heavy criticism for the remark, which Sidarth captured on video and gave to the Webb campaign. Webb’s campaign posted the video on YouTube, then alerted reporters. Within days of the Aug. 11 rally, it became a leading political story and grist for late-night talk shows and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.”
The controversy refused to die down, so Allen on Wednesday — almost two weeks after the remark — finally tracked down a phone number for Sidarth at the University of Virginia, where the 20-year-old had returned for his senior year, and apologized to him, said campaign manager Dick Wadhams. But critics are questioning the sincerity of apology.
Just last Saturday, Wadhams sent a memo to Republican leaders decrying a media “feeding frenzy” over the remark, saying it “did not warrant coverage in the first place,” and accusing Democrats of trying to “play the race card.” Webb’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said that by dismissing the seriousness of the remarks, Allen’s campaign was hardly remorseful.
The controversy continues to generate much criticism in the media. On Thursday, the Washington Post blasted the Allen campaign for saying Allen was being unfairly vilified for his remarks.
“Twelve days after his now-notorious “macaca” comment, Sen. George Allen succumbed to the political equivalent of begging for mercy: He apologized to his victim,” said the lead editorial in Thursday’s Post.
“The senator’s gesture was apt, but it hardly seemed sincere. Even as he apologized, his campaign continued its two-faced strategy of simultaneously scoffing at the entire incident as what Dick Wadhams, Allen’s campaign manager, has said is contrivance.
To Wadhams, politics means never having to say you’re sorry...” But the political storm was not sufficient to prevent Bush from attending a fund-raiser for Allen on Wednesday.
The damage will haunt Allen for a while, said Merle Black, a political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta and a specialist in presidential and congressional races. “It just raises questions about his judgment and how sincere he is in how he deals with these kinds of issues,” Black said.
