Allen suggests Webb behind heckler incident

Sen. George Allen yesterday suggested that his Democratic opponent, James H. Webb Jr., has a connection to a heckler who accosted him Tuesday, while Mr. Webb said the incident exemplifies what is wrong with politics.

Mr. Allen referenced the incident during which liberal blogger Mike Stark confronted him in Charlottesville, prompting the Republican’s supporters to tackle him.

“What the people of Virginia deserve in the last few days of the campaign is my opponent to say to these allies and people associated with him that this is not appropriate,” Mr. Allen said during a campaign stop at a business park in Fairfax.

The Webb campaign says it has no link to Mr. Stark.

Mr. Webb, who was campaigning in Richmond yesterday, said the incident shows that the two parties are at each other’s throats because of the “emotional” election.

“It’s one of the frustrations in dealing with the political process right now — we’ve become so antagonistic,” Mr. Webb said as he began a discussion with Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) students in Richmond.

“For the good of the country, I don’t think we should be engaging in that sort of conduct,” he said. “We can have healthy debate and we can talk about differences without having to have the kind of confrontation that happened [Tuesday]. We don’t need that.”

Mr. Webb did not specify whether he was talking about Mr. Stark’s behavior or the assault. Mr. Stark, a University of Virginia student, said Tuesday that he planned to file charges, although no charges were filed as of yesterday.

Mr. Stark told Washington Post Radio yesterday that he was “baiting” Mr. Allen, who has been known to lose his cool on the campaign trail.

In August, Mr. Allen singled out a Webb volunteer taping his campaign event in Southwest Virginia, calling the Indian-American man “macaca,” a term considered derogatory in some cultures.

Since then, Mr. Allen has faced accusations that he used the “N-word” in the 1970s. He also has struggled through questions about his Jewish heritage.

Mr. Webb has said he could have used such incidents against Mr. Allen, but chose not to because they are “not relevant to what I’m trying to do.”

Mr. Allen, standing beside Sen. John W. Warner, Virginia Republican, said the election on Tuesday should be focused on issues that affect voters “rather than encouraging this sort of disruptive, provocative behavior.”

“This is typical of what my opponent has done, and his allies, trying to provoke incidents,” Mr. Allen said. “I wish he would try to rein that in.”

Both men have said the other is engaging in “vicious” personal attacks, while polls show that voters are irritated by negative campaigning.

Story Continues →