Former Sen. George Allen challenged from his right

By Anita Kumar

For months, it appeared that former U.S. Sen. George Allen, R-Va., would have a clear path to the Republican nomination if he tried to reclaim his old job.

But in the summer, grumbling about his past began, culminating in a website outlining the reasons some Republicans oppose him: He's too moderate. He's part of the establishment. He's partly to blame for the record spending and ballooning deficit in Washington.

By this month, at least four Republicans billing themselves as more conservative than Allen were considering challenging him for the right to run against Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., if Webb seeks re-election.

"There are some concerns based on his record and his rhetoric," said Mark Kevin Lloyd, chairman of the Lynchburg Tea Party and vice chairman of the Virginia Tea Party Patriots Federation, a statewide umbrella group. "People are looking at things in a new light," he said.

Some conservative and tea party activists say Allen abandoned right-of-center values, backing big-government programs and too much spending. But others say he merely failed to change along with Virginia and the Republican Party, both of which have become more conservative in part because of the emergence of the tea party movement.

"George is going to have to prove himself to our new friends in the party, and that's the way it should be," said Gary Byler of Virginia Beach, the Republican chairman of the 2nd Congressional District and a veteran of Allen's first successful campaign for the state House of Delegates, in 1981.

Byler said he plans to support Allen if he runs, adding: "He knows he has a fight on his hands."

In an interview with The Washington Post, Allen said his conservatism has not changed since Ronald Reagan first inspired him to get into politics in 1976. Three decades ago, the man who would eventually hold Thomas Jefferson's seat in the Virginia General Assembly was known as a "rebel" and an "insurgent."

"Some of the things they are saying - it is laughable when you look at my record," said Allen, 58, a former congressman and governor.

Allen, the presumptive front-runner for the GOP nomination, is considered one of Virginia's most transformational governors in a generation. He eliminated 10,000 state government jobs and sold the state yacht to save millions of dollars, abolished the parole system and increased sentences for violent criminals, and imposed a two-year limit for public assistance to overhaul what some considered a runaway government program.

But during his one term in the U.S. Senate, some Republicans complain, he backed President George W. Bush's proposals to increase spending; supported No Child Left Behind, a costly program to create a national education report card; favored a federal program to subsidize the costs of prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries; and voted to expand the Hate Crimes Prevention Act to include crimes based on sexual orientation.

Allen's term in the Senate ended in 2007. His failed 2006 re-election bid was dominated by a controversy that erupted when he used the word "macaca" - a term thought to mean a monkey and viewed by many as a racial slur - in reference to a young Indian American volunteer for Webb.

Allen has long described himself as a "common-sense Jeffersonian conservative" and says that he's proud of his record, citing a core belief in small government and fiscal responsibility.

"I've been against nannyism of government - always have been," he said.

Allen was one of 13 senators who took on the late Sen Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and voted against the infamous "bridge to nowhere," which became a symbol of the broken earmark system in Washington. He has talked for years about states' rights and the 10th Amendment, and he unsuccessfully introduced a constitutional amendment to balance the budget, as well as a bill that would have withheld salaries from members of Congress until a budget passed.

"Look at his votes - he was trying to do the best he could under the circumstances," said James Rich, a longtime Republican activist in Fauquier County who supports Allen.

Rich said Allen would be the strongest candidate for the Senate, notwithstanding the criticisms. "There's always a narrow group you can't please," he said.

Allen has been campaigning like he's running for the Senate, though he has not formally made an announcement.

He has attended more than 100 gatherings - fundraisers, campaign events and speeches - since the summer and has raised $500,000 for candidates this year through his Good Government for America political action committee.

He participated in multiple events for Virginia's successful congressional candidates, H. Morgan Griffith in the southwest, Robert Hurt in Southside and central Virginia and Scott Rigell in Hampton Roads. And he helped out-of-state candidates, including Carly Fiorina of California, Marco Rubio of Florida and Nikki Haley of South Carolina.

Allen has reached out to tea party activists, speaking to large groups in Delaware and Virginia and to smaller groups at rallies in Woodbridge, Harrisonburg and Staunton on tax day.

"He was a tea party person before the tea party existed," said Tucker Watkins, a Republican activist from southern Virginia who worked for Allen in the Senate.