In a recent analysis of the 2006 U.S. Senate races, Chris Bowers of MyDD has this to say about Virginia:
Virginia. James Webb would probably make this seat competitive, so run James, run. Failing that, it might be very difficult to make this seat competitive for Democrats.
I agree, and have even toyed with the idea of starting a "Draft James Webb" movement, because I believe that former Navy Secretary (and winner of the Navy Cross, the Silver Star Medal, two Bronze Star Medals, and two Purple Hearts) Webb would be a super-strong candidate and because I want to get rid of George Allen so badly. Any thoughts on that? Run James run! :)
Meanwhile, what if James Webb decides not to challenge George "Flip Flop on Anti-Gay Hate Crimes" Allen? A couple more plausible ideas ("plausible" defined as having legitimate shots of actually BEATING George Allen) that have been bandied about recently include:
1) Former Lt. General Claudia Kennedy -the first woman in the U.S. Army to hold a three-star rank. In 2002, Dems reportedly tried to recruit Kennedy to run against John Warner for Senate, but she declined to do so. In 2004, Kennedy endorsed John Kerry and served as an advisor to his campaign. We also know that she supports women in the military having access to abortions, opposed the nomination of Alberto Gonzalez for Attorney General, and supports legislation sponsored by John McCain to ban torture and prisoner abuse by U.S. Government personnel. Sounds good to me. Run Claudia run!?!
2) Creigh Deeds, if and ONLY if he loses the Attorney General's race to "Taliban Bob" McDonnell. Deeds would make a strong candidate against Allen for the same reasons he made a strong Attorney General candidate. Deeds is an extremely likeable guy from rural, "red" Bath County. Politically, Deeds is a pro-education, pro-health care, pro-environment, pro-choice, anti-gay-marriage, tough-on-crime Democrat. That's not a bad combination to take on Allen, it seems to me. The main question with Deeds is simply whether or not he would WANT to take on Allen after his grueling race for Attorney General, still undecided as of today. If so, he'd be a great candidate. Run Creigh run!?!
As far as other possible candidates that have been bandied about are concerned, I simply don't see how they could beat George Allen. For instance, Harris Miller, Leslie Byrne, and Don Beyer all are wonderful folks, but Byrne and Beyer have expressed no interest in taking on Allen and Miller is a little-known former head of the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA). Which brings us right back to James Webb...or Claudia Kennedy...or Creigh Deeds if he doesn't become Attorney General. Any of those three would be great choices, but they need to decide soon!
The bottom line is this: Democrats absolutely MUST run a strong candidate against George Allen this year. If not, they should go sit in the corner and hang their heads in shame. Same thing with EVERY SINGLE CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT, by the way. I'll tell you, there's nothing that makes me angrier than hearing talk about how Democratic Party officials have decided not to contest a particular race, to concede it to the Republicans. Yeah, yeah, I understand all their arguments - which, not surprisingly, largely center around $$$ - but I simply don't buy them. To the contrary, we need to have strong Democrats out there fighting conservative ideology everywhere it might be found, articulating a positive progressive/centrist message for America. Remember, you can't win if you don't play, and right now we're playing for very high stakes.