RICHMOND, Va. - Republican George Allen likes to smile. Throughout his campaign for the Senate, few photographs of the former Republican governor showed him without a friendly, come-on-out-to-the-back-porch grin. Ultimately, that smile has served as a proxy for the most important aspect of this year's Senate campaign.
While Democratic Sen. Chuck Robb has attempted to make it otherwise, the 2000 Virginia Senate race has turned on a unique question: Do Virginia voters like and trust Allen enough to make him their senator?
At the outset, the race between Robb and Allen seemed like a dream contest, pitting two popular former governors and figureheads of their respective political parties against each other.
Once Allen announced his candidacy, various polls showed the former Cavalier quarterback with a 10 point lead. Impressively, that double-digit lead remained for an entire year.
Because of this early lead, the popularity of both candidates, and their status as former statewide office holders, this was not a normal challenger race. Generally, a challenger must convince voters that the incumbent is not the ideal person to remain in office. However, with Allen leading Robb and neither candidate really acting as an incumbent or as a "challenger" in the eyes of Virginia voters, Robb eventually found himself on the defensive. To win, Robb would have had to turn Virginia voters away from Allen.
For Robb, convincing voters of this wasn't easy. Allen has a certain friendly, charming voice that seems incredibly genuine. In the words of Jerry Kilgore, the Republican Party's probable nominee for Attorney General in 2001, Allen has a tremendous strength as a "retail politician." For example, Allen wears cowboy boots and occasionally chews tobacco, two traits that identify him with various rural parts of the Commonwealth.
In sharp contrast, Robb carries himself in a reserved, almost shy manner. "Robb has never been a people person," according to Kilgore. Such shyness has hindered him from taking leadership in the Senate on a number of issues, leading Allen to criticize him for failing to represent Virginia adequately. The former Marine seems almost reluctant to ask for votes or to glad-hand in large crowds. Clearly, if decided simply on personality, Allen would win this election.
Thus, Robb decided to make Allen's record as governor a key element of his campaign. In a series of television ads that began in August, Robb and third-party special interest groups - Handgun Control Inc. and the Sierra Club among them - have attempted to paint Allen as an evil, hateful person out of touch with Virginians and capable of destroying the environment, health care, public education, children's safety and women's rights.
Amazingly, such advertisements did not seem to work exactly as intended. While poll numbers did eventually begin to shift to make the race closer, the ads rarely had a picture of Allen in which he did not smile. On the contrary, Robb's pictures in his own ads rarely conveyed a particularly friendly attitude. While talking with children in a school, Robb did not smile. While discussing health care with seniors, Robb did not grin or even soften his face. Although effective at bringing down Allen, Robb's own ads did not seem to give voters a palatable candidate to choose in the alternative.
In response to the Robb ads, Allen's ads had him address voters directly. Smiling all along, he would talk about how his children went to public school, how he supported Virginia families, and so forth. He seemed believable and genuine. He never appeared harsh.
To be fair, Allen ran his own series of ads blasting Robb, as both have engaged in extremely negative campaigning. However, because of the uniqueness of this race, the incumbent Robb had to take down the challenger Allen. Ultimately, his attempts failed. Robb conceded the race at 9:10 p.m.
Standing on the stage at 9:35, Allen gave his victory speech. After thanking his family and his God and after giving a tribute to Robb, Allen made a familiar statement: "I can't wait to go work for the hard-working families of Virginia." He also kept his trademark grin on his face throughout the entire speech. Virginians will have that smile as its Senate representative for six years.
(Seth Wood is a Cavalier Daily columnist.)
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