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ALEXANDRIA -- Defeated Republican U.S.Senate candidate George Allen said Monday he will not seek elective office again. "I'm grateful for the support, generosity and the votes of over 1.7 million people, but I have no intention of running for office again,'' Allen said during a 45-minute interview in his Alexandria office.

Pollster John McLaughlin (not to be confused with the pundit) conducted a statewide poll of Virginia for George Allen's senate campaign this Mon. and Tue., surveying 600 likely voters.  Unlike media and university polls, McLaughlin works for clients and no candidate wants to hire someone who isn't accurate.  John is an ace pollster who I worked closely with for Steve Forbes in 1996, so I know that if he is going public with these numbers he is extremely confident in their accuracy as his entire reputation depends upon it. With that preface, drumroll please... Romney 51% - Obama 44% - Goode...

The National Rifle Association Political Victory Fund (NRA-PVF) has endorsed former Virginia Gov. George Allen over Democratic Senate opponent Tim Kaine, on Saturday. “George Allen has a proven record of defending the Second Amendment,” said Chris W. Cox, chairman of NRA-PVF. “Because of his strong support of our rights, George Allen has earned an “A” rating and endorsement from the NRA-PVF.” Kaine, who is also a former governor of the state, got an “F” from the 4-million member organization. “As chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Tim Kaine strongly supported the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor for the U.S. Supreme Court...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A conservative super PAC has jumped back into the Indiana Senate race with a nearly $1 million ad buy highlighting Democratic nominee Joe Donnelly's support for two of President Barack Obama's policies. The Indiana buy is part of more than $6.4 million worth of air time that Crossroads GPS and American Crossroads bought this week in six Senate contests, according to Federal Election Commission records. The money also was dedicated to races in Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Nevada and Wisconsin.

STAFFORD, Va. — Just outside the gates of the storied Quantico Marine Base, George Allen, the Republican nominee for a Senate seat from Virginia, sat down in the offices of a moving van company with more than a dozen defense contractors from his state last Monday to listen to them fret over government spending cuts. Scott Hirons’s small software firm will probably have to shrink to five employees from 15 by the end of October if nothing is done to head off automatic, across-the-board defense cuts, he said. The cuts will not begin until January, if ever, but the threat...

The Governor who couldn’t stop himself from proposing tax hikes on Virginians says during the Fairfax debate with George Allen that he’s open to a minimum federal income tax on everyone.

Virginia Senate candidate Tim Kaine, a Democrat, said that he's open to having a "minimum tax level for everyone":

Rasmussen Reports released a new poll on Monday that shows that "Democrat Tim Kaine has moved slightly ahead of Republican George Allen in Virginia’s neck-and-neck U.S. Senate race." The telephone survey of 500 likely Virginia voters shows support for Kaine at 47%, 2 points ahead of Allen, whose support is at 45%. The margin of error for the poll is 4.5%. Last week, a poll by Gravis Marketing showed Allen with a 5 point lead.

A poll from Gravis Marketing and Capitol Correspondent released on Tuesday gives Republican Mitt Romney a five-point lead over Democrat Barack Obama in the Virginia presidential race, and also gives GOP Senate candidate George Allen a five-point lead over Democrat Tim Kaine. The poll differs significantly from recent polling in both races that had consistently given Obama a small lead over Romney for president and had the Kaine-Allen race a virtual deadlock. Gravis Marketing, in a press release on its poll, reported that it had polled Virginia in August and had measured a 44 percent-to-40 percent lead for Obama in...

The Talk Shows July 22nd, 2012 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Gov. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo.; Michael Chertoff, former secretary of Homeland Security Department; William Bratton, former Los Angeles chief of police; and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Netanyahu; New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg; coverage of the Colorado shooting.THIS WEEK (ABC): Hickenlooper. STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; former Sen. George Allen, R-Va.; former Gov. Tim Kaine, D-Va.

Democrat Tim Kaine has edged ahead for the first time since last fall in the U.S. Senate race in Virginia just before next week’s Republican primary brings the contest into clearer focus. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Virginia Voters finds the former governor with 46% to Republican George Allen’s 44%. Three percent (3%) like some other candidate in the race, and six percent (6%) are undecided.

The race for Virginia’s open U.S. Senate seat is still virtually tied. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Virginia shows Republican George Allen with 46% support to 45% for Democrat Tim Kaine. Four percent (4%) like another candidate in the race, and five percent (5%) are undecided.

A Roanoke College poll released today has Republican Mitt Romney leading President Barack Obama in Virginia, and Republican George Allen holding an advantage over Democrat Tim Kaine in the state’s U.S. Senate race. Romney leads Obama by a margin of 46 percent to 40 percent, according to the poll. After screening for registered voters, the Republican frontrunner’s lead drops to 46-41. Allen leads Kaine by a margin of 44 percent to 36 percent, and 46-39 when screening for registered voters. Allen’s lead is unchanged from a February Roanoke College poll.

The U.S. Senate race in Virginia remains a toss-up, with Republican George Allen ahead of Democrat Tim Kaine by just two points. The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey finds Allen drawing 46% of the vote to Kaine’s 44%. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided.

The hotly contested U.S. Senate race in Virginia between two popular former governors remains a dead heat. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the Old Dominion finds Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican George Allen both earning 46% support. Three percent (3%) prefers some other candidate, and five percent (5%) are undecided.

The first impression I had after the 90-minute sparring session between Tim Kaine and George Allen in Richmond on Wednesday was that Kaine emerged the victor. It wasn't a sweeping win that will change the tight trajectory of the race, and Allen didn't make any jolting mistakes — but it is clear that Kaine is a more disciplined and pointed debater, relentlessly returning to two core arguments: 1) Allen has little fiscal credibility to launch critiques on the Obama agenda because of his own voting record. 2) Allen is more partisan and represents the politics of division, whereas Kaine represents...

RICHMOND -- Two former governors with sharply contrasting ideas about government clash Wednesday in the first debate of Virginia's nationally prominent 2012 U.S. Senate race. Republican George Allen, trying to regain the seat he lost in 2006 to Democrat Jim Webb, and Tim Kaine, who served more than two years as Democratic National Committee chairman, debate at 1:30 p.m. in the Virginia Capitol. The debate wraps up the 10th annual Associated Press Day at the Capitol, a daylong series of forums on Virginia politics and government for journalists at AP member news organizations. The debate is hosted by the Virginia...

A new Quinnipiac University Polling Institute survey in Virginia confirmed yet again that the state will be a battleground on both the presidential and Senate levels. The new poll found that former Govs. George Allen (R) and Tim Kaine (D) remained neck and neck in the race for the state’s open Senate seat, while President Barack Obama was statistically tied with Mitt Romney, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination. Kaine took 45 percent to Allen's 44 percent, matching the 1-point margin the polling institute found in its last two surveys of the race in June and September. The race is...

Virginia Democrats are using part of Sarah Palin's weekend speech — in which the former governor of Alaska criticized the D.C. area and its "permanent political class" as unsympathetic to the country's economic woes — to attack Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and GOP Senate candidate George Allen. “Her ridiculous comments about Northern Virginia are just further proof of what people already know: Sarah Palin doesn't understand what Virginia families are going through, and she doesn't care," said Virginia Democratic spokesman Brian Coy. "It shouldn't be difficult for any Virginian to condemn her absurd rhetoric, particularly for people like George Allen...

Tim Kaine has been a city councilman, mayor and governor.... But as he runs for the U.S. Senate, Republicans want voters to focus on Mr. Kaine's two years as chairman of the [Democrat Party] , when his job was to defend [Hussein's porkulus and deathcare laws].