'Coach' Allen savors GOP Senate victories

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Sen. George Allen, who was head coach for the historic Republican wins in the U.S. Senate this month, said the party has a clear mandate that it will pursue with unflinching determination.

The seven incoming Republican senators -- along with several incumbents he helped re-elect in tough races -- come to Washington promising to cut taxes, shrink the federal government and institute wide-ranging tort reform, Mr. Allen told The Washington Times.

"Our batch [of freshmen] is going to be for allowing people to keep more of what they earn; they're going to be against nanny, meddling, burdensome government," the Virginia Republican said in an interview in his Senate office about the priorities of the expanded Republican Party. "They're going to be looking for solutions to litigation."

Although local issues were important in the races as well, Mr. Allen said all the new candidates pledged greater accountability in education, more energy independence and smoother confirmations of President Bush's judicial nominees.

Of the 10 most-closely watched Senate races this year, Mr. Allen, as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, helped win eight open seats and defend two more. Not since 1928 has the Republican Party enjoyed an 11-seat advantage in the Senate. The incoming Senate will have 55 Republicans, 44 Democrats and one Democrat-leaning independent.

Wearing cowboy boots and savoring a lip full of Copenhagen chewing tobacco, Mr. Allen was nothing short of giddy over the Republican victories. At times, he even seemed to run out of sports analogies for describing the wins -- a considerable feat for the son of former Redskins coach George Allen who never tires of pitching sports metaphors to explain politics.

Winning the Louisiana seat without a runoff (or "overtime," as Mr. Allen called it) was the biggest surprise of the election "because it took the most complicated play of all."

"What we had to do in Louisiana was like a double-reverse flea-flicker and a lateral," he said. "We had a plan that was complicated."

Democrats, meanwhile, picked up only two open seats nationwide and sustained a net loss of four -- including their incumbent party leader, something that hasn't happened in more than 50 years.

Mr. Allen said he has not spoken with Minority Leader Tom Daschle -- who lost his South Dakota seat to former Rep. John Thune in a stunning upset -- since the election. Ousting the highest elected Democratic official was like "winning three seats," he said, but added: "There's no reason to gloat."