Allen joins tea party fray

STAUNTON – An anti-government spending movement’s Shenandoah Valley branch received the spirited support Thursday of a Virginia politician aiming for a comeback.

As members of the Shenandoah Valley Tea Party Patriots rallied in Gypsy Hill Park with a tax-day protest against high government spending, their dissatisfaction was roused to a higher pitch by George Allen, the former governor and senator.

“The spirit of 1776 lives in the Shenandoah Valley,” Allen told the crowd. Americans want lower taxes and less regulation and litigation, he said.

Allen referred to America’s founders, reeling off a quote from Thomas Jefferson’s first inaugural address: “A good government is a wise and frugal government.”

Allen’s appearance in Staunton before a crowd of 600 was his third of the day after earlier speeches at tea party rallies in Harrisonburg and Prince William County.

Ousted from the Senate in 2006 by Jim Webb after uttering a racial epithet — he referred to a Webb staffer as a “macaca” — Allen has spent recent years quietly working to resurrect his political reputation.

The conventional wisdom is that he will attempt a rematch in 2012 against Webb or another Democratic candidate should Webb bow out.

After his speech, Allen hinted that many people have encouraged him to run.

A comeback could hinge on several factors that include President Barack Obama and the future of the tea party movement, said James Madison University political scientist Bob Roberts.

“The Democrats will have Obama at the head of the ticket. It will be a polarizing race and the question is will he [Allen] run to the center or the right?” Roberts said.

While Allen aligns himself with the tea party movement, the question is whether that will still resonate in 2012, Roberts said.

Allen thinks the tea party effort will continue. He said the movement is consistent with the country’s founding principles, including limited government, and he sees no evidence Washington “has gotten the message.”

Roberts said the tea party movement is based on cutting government spending, but its adherents have been reluctant to cut any of the big-ticket federal items such as defense, Social Security or Medicare.

Bruce Richmond, the director of the Shenandoah Valley Tea Party Patriots, said larger programs will have to take cuts, including Social Security and agencies such as the U.S. Department of Education.

JMU’s Roberts said the movement is less popular than here in Virginia’s two biggest regions, Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, two areas where government spending drives the economy.

“Two years down the line, the tea party may not help him that much,” Roberts said.

Christopher Newport University political scientist Quentin Kidd said Allen would need to atone for his “macaca” remark if he runs again.

“Sometime soon after he announces he would have to address what he has learned and how he made mistakes,” Kidd said.

Kidd said Allen could confront the issue over the remark head-on and atone for it with an apology.

Those concerns appeared remote Thursday night, when Allen energized the crowd with his speech about conservative government and then lingered in Gypsy Hill Park for more than 30 minutes afterward to talk to people, pose for pictures and sign autographs.

It was déjà vu for Allen, who clearly appreciated the crowd’s attention.

Allen’s executive assistant, Tim Nussbaum, said his boss is staying busy.

Allen runs George Allen Strategies, a Northern Virginia consulting firm that handles everything from issue advocacy to general consulting to navigating Washington, Nussbaum said.

A year ago, Allen started the American Energy Freedom Center to advocate constructive free-market energy ideas.

Allen also is a presidential scholar and a member of the board of governors at the Ronald Reagan Ranch.

While he is not committing to another bid for office, Allen said events such as Thursday’s rallies keep him in the political game.

“I will be fighting for these values on my deathbed,” he said. “I will be fighting for ordinary common-sense conservative values that can work.”