Monday, January 24, 2011

Talking with George Allen about his U.S. Senate run

I had the pleasure of talking today with U.S. Senate candidate George Allen after his "soft" announcement that he would seek the Republican nomination for the seat he held from 2000-06. It was a pleasure as he responded to whatever questions were asked ... the same down-to-earth man that he has been in the past.

It was his campaign in 2006 that got me into blogging ... a baptism by fire as liberal bloggers absolutely tore into Allen and conservative bloggers. Some are still around ... some are not. 

I'll say up front that I like Allen. I missed most of his time as governor because we were living out of state but was there as Augusta County co-coordinator when he (and George W. Bush) ran in 2000. My co-coordinator was part of the original A-Team and made a believer out of me.

The A-Team had walked through fire in 1993 when their candidate was down by 29 points and Allen was not expected to win the governor's race. They came back to win and through that experience, the team bonded ... a bond that lasts to this day. They are itching to campaign again for him.

Some tea party folks are saying Allen isn't conservative enough. As I wrote today in my Washington Examiner post:
Will he be conservative enough for the tea party? To paraphrase Barbara Mandrell, you could say George Allen was conservative before conservative was cool. He would welcome folks at events with his familiar, "Welcome, Patriots All!" and always ended his remarks with, "Stay strong for Freedom!" He stood for the Second Amendment, and encouraged educational standards at a time when people were concerned about graduates lacking enough knowledge to make it beyond high school. He worked to abolish parole and increase sentences for violent criminals. He also pushed for fiscal responsibility and reduced the size of government in the Commonwealth.
Check out the rest of my post with more from my conversation with Gov. Allen.

With what has already been written, this will be an interesting race. Stay tuned....

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