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Sen. George Allen of Virginia was born in Southern California, is the son of a former football legend, and is a political conservative. He's strong on national defense, favors tax cuts, and, as a former governor, has a record of being tough on crime. He is also a budding GOP presidential candidate who has been considered a top contender for the top job. But while campaigning for re-election to the Senate recently, Mr. Allen stumbled to reveal a weakness that could keep him from a spot on the national ticket. At a stop near the Kentucky border, Mr. Allen poked...

Dear Friend, Send George Allen a message. Contribute today! We know that all Senator George F. Allen wanted to do this week was run away and hide after calling our campaign's volunteer, Sidarth, "macaca." That's what happens, Senator Allen, when you hurl the epithet "macaca" at another person. That's what happens when you derisively "Welcome to America" a 20-year old Indian-American who was born and raised in Virginia -- especially when you were born and raised in California. And that's what happens when you don't have the guts to apologize to a young person of color you demeaned amongst an...

GOP Allen's Once Large Lead Evaporates: In an election for the United States Senate in Virginia today, 8/21/06, incumbent Republican George Allen edges Democrat challenger James Webb 48% to 45%, according to an exclusive SurveyUSA poll conducted for W*USA-TV in Washington, DC. Since an identical SurveyUSA poll released 6/28/06, Allen has lost 8 points and Webb has gained 8 points. Allen's lead has shrunk from 19 points to 3 points. Interviewing for this poll began 8/18/06, one week after Allen singled out a Webb campaign worker at an Allen rally. Allen has lost support across all demographic groups, but in...

In an election for the United States Senate in Virginia today, 8/21/06, incumbent Republican George Allen edges Democrat challenger James Webb 48% to 45%, according to an exclusive SurveyUSA poll conducted for W*USA-TV in Washington, DC. Since an identical SurveyUSA poll released 6/28/06, Allen has lost 8 points and Webb has gained 8 points. Allen's lead has shrunk from 19 points to 3 points. Interviewing for this poll began 8/18/06, one week after Allen singled out a Webb campaign worker at an Allen rally. Allen has lost support across all demographic groups, but in particular, among younger voters. He has...

Sen. George Allen's macaca moment has granted the nation a few days' reprieve from thoughts of mass murder and provided a new vocab word for the zeitgeist. For those who've somehow slept through the Sturm und drang surrounding Allen's recent use of the word "macaca," the story is this: He was stumping in Virginia with about 100 fans when he decided to recognize a young volunteer for his Democratic opponent, James Webb. The fellow had been following Allen's tour, filming him, as is customary for both campaigns. "This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his...

Senator George Allen's alleged slur of an opposition campaign worker of Indian descent, recorded on video, has provoked a furious controversy in the state. In the wake of the controversy, support for Allen has dipped below the 50% mark for the first time this year. The latest Rasmussen Reports election poll in Virginia shows that Allen has lost a few percentage points of support and Democrat James Webb has gained a few. The incumbent now leads 47% to 42%, a six-point decline in his lead over Webb since July. In April, Senator Allen had enjoyed a 20% lead, which shrunk...

Political friendships, and political animus, apparently are not made to last. Six years ago, former Reagan Navy secretary James Webb was a Republican, and he opined that President Bill Clinton's administration was "the most corrupt administration in modern memory." He made the comments at a news conference endorsing Republican George F. Allen for the Senate, and renouncing his past support of Virginia Democratic Sen. Charles S. Robb. Today, Webb is a Democrat, running against the incumbent Allen. And Webb's campaign said last night that Clinton has agreed to headline a fundraiser for Webb this fall at -- just to complete...

Some interesting numbers in SurveyUSA's latest monthly job approval ratings of all 100 U.S. senators. Up at the top, as usual, are North Dakota's two Democrats, Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan, and Maine's two Republicans, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe. All four are from the party that lost their states in the 2000 and 2004 presidential election. But they are small states, with geographically dispersed populations, in which it's possible for a senator to stay in personal touch with a large proportion of his or her constituents. Conrad, Dorgan, Snowe, and Collins evidently have done a good job of this....

Sen. George Allen's mental journey to the imaginary land of Macaca has brought the one-term Virginia Republican -- considered a presidential hopeful for 2008 -- more national attention than ever before. But not in a good way...... The Macaca incident became a sensation on the video-sharing Web site YouTube.com, where some visitors helpfully posted clips of macaques, which are monkeys. It spawned a host of predictable jokes -- "Funny, you don't look Macacan" -- and inspired a hilarious bit on "The Daily Show" that ended with a potty-humor punch line not entirely suitable for the opinion pages of a distinguished...

by Mark Finkelstein August 16, 2006 - 08:02 We all remember how the MSM climbed all over Hillary Clinton when a few years ago she thought it was funny to claim that Mahatma Gandhi "ran a gas station down in St. Louis." Or more recently when she made her "plantation" remark. And of course we recall the liberal media saying it was a career-ender for Joe Biden to have said "you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking," Or not. But let George Allen make a similarly insensitive...

What does Macaca really mean? Three Virginia Republicans confirmed to the Hotline that several Allen campaign aides and advisers are telling allies that the word was a made-up, off-the-cuff neologism that these aides occasionally used to refer to tracker S.R. Sidarth well before last Saturday's videotaped encounter. According to two Republicans who heard the word used, "macaca" was a mash-up of "Mohawk," referring to Sidarth's distinctive hair, and "caca," Spanish slang for excrement, or "shit." Said one Republican close to the campaign: "In other words, he was a shit-head, an annoyance." Allen, according to Republicans, heard members of his traveling...

A LEADING US Republican Senator has sparked a furore for his use of a pejorative term to refer to an Asian man of Indian descent, a US newspaper has reported. The Washington Post reported that Senator George Allen, who is running for re-election to his Senate seat representing the southern state of Virginia, has apologised for what his opponent's campaign said were demeaning and insensitive comments. In remarks on Friday at campaign rally in Virginia, Senator Allen reportedly referred to the Indian-American man - a volunteer with the Senate campaign of his Democratic opponent - as a "macaca". Macaca is...

RICHMOND, Aug. 14 -- Virginia Sen. George Allen (R) apologized Monday for what his opponent's campaign said were demeaning and insensitive comments the senator made to a 20-year-old volunteer of Indian descent. At a campaign rally in southwest Virginia on Friday, Allen repeatedly called a volunteer for Democrat James Webb "macaca." During the speech in Breaks, near the Kentucky border, Allen began by saying that he was "going to run this campaign on positive, constructive ideas" and then pointed at S.R. Sidarth in the crowd. "This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, macaca, or whatever his name is....

Fellow Democrats: We are 84 days away from a Democratic take-over of Congress... But ONLY if we can turnout Democrats this year. Low turnout will help the Republicans maintain control. Here in Virginia, we have the best opportunity we've had in DECADES to defeat Republicans in both the Senate AND in Congress. Many of our Republican incumbents can't even reach 50% support in recent polls. The Republican Party is in trouble, but that does not mean we can stand on the sidelines for the next three months. It's time for Democrats to unite and make sure that we get our...

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) -- A volunteer of Indian descent working for Democrat Jim Webb's U.S. Senate campaign said Monday he felt insulted when Sen. George Allen called him a name that sounded like "Macaca" during a rally in western Virginia. S.R. Sidarth, 20, spent last week following Allen's "listening tour" and filming the appearances for the Webb campaign, which distributed a video clip of Friday's appearance to reporters. "This fellow over here with the yellow shirt -- Macaca or whatever his name is -- he's with my opponent," Allen said. "He's following us around everywhere." Macaca is a term associated...

RICHMOND, Va. -- A volunteer of Indian descent working for Democrat Jim Webb's U.S. Senate campaign said Monday he felt insulted when Sen. George Allen called him a name that sounded like "Macaca" during a rally in western Virginia. S.R. Sidarth, 20, spent last week following Allen's "listening tour" and filming the appearances for the Webb campaign, which distributed a video clip of Friday's appearance to reporters. "This fellow over here with the yellow shirt--Macaca or whatever his name is--he's with my opponent," Allen said. "He's following us around everywhere." Macaca is a term associated with a species of monkeys....

Democrat James Webb's Senate campaign accused Sen. George Allen (R) of making demeaning comments Friday to a 20-year-old Webb volunteer of Indian descent. S.R. Sidarth, a senior at the University of Virginia, had been trailing Allen with a video camera to document his travels and speeches for the Webb campaign. During a campaign speech Friday in Breaks, Virginia, near the Kentucky border, Allen singled out Sidarth and called him a word that sounded like "Macaca." "This fellow here over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name is. He's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere. And...

James Webb’s U.S. Senate campaign has been receiving donations from all over the country, including Beverly Hills, Calif., New York and Atlanta, according to campaign finance records. When funds raised by Webb are separated by zip code, six of the top 14 donating areas are outside of Virginia. The breakdown for Republican incumbent George Allen, on the other hand, shows his largest donating zip codes are all inside the state. Webb has raised $1.3 million, while Allen has raised more than $10 million. Political analysts said it is imperative for Webb to raise more money if he is to be...

To hear national Democratic party leaders tell it, Democrat James Webb has a solid chance of ousting Republican Sen. George Allen this fall. "You might find Cinderella in Virginia," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., told Congressional Quarterly this spring. "Allen's numbers are not very strong." But in the first major spending decision of the fall campaign, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee - which Schumer heads - took a pass on Virginia. The committee, which helps elect Democratic senators, has reserved a reported $25 million worth of television ads in states where Republican incumbents are considered vulnerable. Virginia is not one of...

RICHMOND -- The campaign staff of Sen. George Allen (R) describes his Democratic opponent, James Webb, as a Hollywood elitist running a "joke" of a campaign. They call him "Junior." Webb's team implies that Allen is a rich jock with a fondness for dude ranches and a weird middle name. They call him "Felix." The election is more than three months away, but the two campaigns are locked in an increasingly nasty effort to characterize the other before voters form their own impressions