BUILDING A BRIDGE TO THE 19TH CENTURY. Boy, George Allen is really into this wanna-be Southern secessionist thing. A tipster informs me that the junior senator from California, I mean Virginia, didn't just cotton to the rebel flag, he's also dressed up in the uniform of the old slave states in film. According to this 2003 CNN story, Allen played the role of a Confederate officer in 2003's Gods and Generals. Click here (scroll down, on the left) for the picture of Allen dressed in period garb, captured in old-school sepia tones. Now, there were other representatives in the film as well -- but none of them have plans to run for president in 2008. IMDb has more.
No matter what affection Southerners have for their heritage and ancestors, and they do, I think about the last thing America is going to want in 2008 is someone easily painted as a Californian obsessed with refighting the War Between the States. Racial matters aside, that's kooksville territory on the campaign trail.
--Garance Franke-Ruta