Posted by David Lerman at 12:44 pm CDT
FAIRFAX, Va.—After weathering charges of racial insensitivity, Republican Sen. George Allen made a public appeal to minority voters Saturday in Virginia’s most populous and ethnically diverse county.
Facing what polls suggest is now a highly competitive Senate race, Allen pledged his commitment to working for people of all racial backgrounds as he addressed the Fairfax County Republican Committee’s third annual Ethnic Community Campaign Kick-Off Rally.
“It is invigorating to be with everyone here of all sorts of diverse backgrounds,” Allen told more than 500 GOP voters of Filipino, Indian, Iranian, Taiwanese and Vietnamese descent, among others.
What might have been a routine campaign stop for a veteran politician took on new importance as Allen tries to recover from a racially charged incident that helped breathe new life into the campaign of Democratic challenger James Webb, a former Navy secretary.In a highly publicized campaign appearance last month that put Virginia’s Senate race in the national spotlight, Allen singled out a Webb campaign volunteer of Indian descent, called him “macaca,” and said, “Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.”
While Allen has apologized repeatedly in recent weeks, the gaffe clearly took a toll on his campaign. A new Mason-Dixon poll suggests the race is now a virtual dead heat.
But the senator won a warm reception Saturday from the friendly crowd of Republican supporters, many of whom said they were willing to look beyond the “macaca” stumble to consider Allen’s full record as senator and as a former governor.
“Those were unwise words, hurtful,” said Puneet Ahluwalia, a Fairfax businessman and co-chairman of the party’s Indian caucus. “But we have to look at his track record and what he’s done for the community. We all make mistakes. He apologized many times and profusely.”
Pratima Gopalakrishnan, a senior at Fairfax’s Thomas Jeffferson High School—the alma mater of Webb campaign volunteer S.R. Sidarth—told Allen, “I’m very happy with the way you handled the situation after it happened. I think the community has moved on.”
Despite such assurances, about a dozen protesters gathered outside the rally to accuse Allen of racism. Playing off the word “macaca”—the genus for a species of monkey—one protester wore a monkey suit.
“It’s a sham,” said protestor Howard Jennings, a transportation consultant from Alexandria whose sign said “Racism is NOT a family value.” Allen, he said, “is trying to burnish his image as someone who’s racially broad-minded when he’s really not.”
Jennings and others say they remain suspicious of Allen because of the senator’s history, which includes flirtations with the Confederate flag and opposition to a state holiday commemorating Martin Luther King Jr.
For his part, Allen used his brief speech to underline his support for issues of special concern to minorities, including funding for historically black and Hispanic colleges and a proposed U.S.-India pact on nuclear energy.
“We thank you all for standing with us and we’re going to move forward in reaching out to all people,” Allen told the crowd.
Kristian Denny Todd, a Webb campaign spokeswoman, dismissed Allen’s appearance as “politically expedient for a guy who just a month ago felt that ethnic Virginians weren’t a part of `real Virginia.’ “
Allen said his participation at the rally had been planned for months—long before the “macaca” gaffe put the Virginia Senate race in the national spotlight.
David Lerman reports for The Daily Press of Hampton Roads, Va., a Tribune Co. newspaper.
