Yesterday, former Sen. George Allen announced his return to Virginia politics:
George Allen, the former U.S. senator and Virginia governor, plans to tell supporters within a week that he is mounting a campaign to retake the Senate seat he lost to Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) in 2006. Allen, 58, the most prominent 2012 challenger to announce so far, has begun to line up key staff members. Webb, 64, who won by 1 percent, has sent mixed signals about whether he will seek reelection. DNC Chairman Tim Kaine, a former Virginia governor who could be the Democratic nominee if Webb bowed out, has been telling friends he thinks Webb will run.
As Allen's campaign begins in earnest, I hope we don't forget the circumstances for his loss in 2006. In short, he "slipped" and used a racial slur to describe an opposition staffer:
"Macaca," as Wikipedia describes, "is a Francophone epithet for North African indigenes," which Allen may have heard from his mother, who was a North African of French descent. The ensuing media scrutiny over the slur revealed a whole history of racially problematic behavior, including his vocal affection for the Confederacy. As governor, Allen declared April "Confederate History and Heritage Month," and called the Civil War a "a four-year struggle for independence and sovereign rights." And before then, as a state representative, Allen opposed a holiday commemorating the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.
Given the likely electorate in 2012, I think Allen has tough odds ahead of him. Still, let's hope the media remembers his not-so-veiled racism.
-- Jamelle Bouie
