Allen vs. Webb part deux?

Perhaps?

 

“There’s no question that Allen is looking seriously at running,” says Larry Sabato, director of UVA’s Center for Politics. “And if he wants to try for a comeback, it’s hard to see how any other Republican can stop him from getting the nomination.” The Republican former governor and senator lost a re-election bid in 2006 to Senator Jim Webb, thanks in large part to Allen’s snafus (“Macaca,” anyone?) and questions raised over his character. Even then, Webb only won by 9,000 votes.

 

After the loss, Allen stayed on the sidelines, founding a think tank and working for an energy consulting business; he is now working on a book, The Triumph of Character: What Washington Can Learn From the World of Sports. Of course, 2006 was a time when many Americans couldn’t stomach the thought of another cowboy politician, but in the four years since Webb narrowly defeated Allen, Democrats won Congress and the House, and muscled major legislation through congress on, among other things, healthcare. And then there were buyouts. 

 

If Allen is indeed the challenger, Sabato says, “Allen would run a strongly anti-Obama and anti-health care reform campaign, I would guess. If the economy is still bad and Obama looks to be a one-term president, then Webb is probably toast, too.” Public Policy Polling puts Allen ahead of Webb by one point as of August. 

 

All that Allen had to do to catch up with Jim Webb was, well, nothing. “The ironic part of this,” says Ben Tribbett, who writes the Not Larry Sabato blog—no connection to Sabato—is that “there’s probably no one in recent memory who has had a more accomplished first half of his first term than Jim Webb,” who cosponsored legislation that will examine the criminal justice system, and a bill that aims to eliminate excesses in wartime contracting. “But it doesn’t look like people have noticed or cared,” Tribbett says. 

 

If Allen was one point ahead of Webb in last August, Tribbett says, “I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s double-digits now.”