George Allen was briefly a House member from Virginia, then served as the state's governor and junior senator. After losing his seat to James Webb in 2006, he started George Allen Strategies, a lobbying and consulting firm in Alexandria. He is running to return to the Senate. In National Journal, Jim O'Sullivan writes that conservative opponents are criticizing him.
Allen tells a different story. His long-held beliefs—balanced budgets and reduced spending—in his telling, have now become en vogue. Taking a break from the glad-handing to talk to reporters, surrounded by tables rich with beer in Solo cups, Allen calls himself “a common-sense, Jeffersonian conservative.”
Allen adds: “We’re running this as a grassroots insurgency.” The former establishment Republican even says he “may” join the Senate’s new Tea Party Caucus.
