Allen prepares for homestretch of campaign, touts energy independence

It’s been a year since George Allen announced his bid to go back to the U.S. Senate, and he says he is just getting warmed up for the November election.

“I’m excited by the progress,’’ said Allen, who spoke to a Republican Dutch Treat breakfast Friday at the Staunton Shoney’s.

It’s not easy to think of a former governor and senator building grassroots support, but Allen points to law enforcement, Virginia sportsmen and others who have endorsed his campaign.

On Friday, Allen touted his blueprint program for America’s comeback, which includes energy independence and job creation.

He said Virginia needs to produce oil and natural gas off the Atlantic coast and use the royalties to build roads and aid education in the commonwealth. Allen was critical of President Barack Obama’s rejection of the Keystone Pipeline project.

“A neighbor and an ally like Canada is better than Hugo Chavez,’’ said Allen of Venezuela’s president. “It is not just turning down thousands of jobs, but reliable fuel.”

Allen said the cost of gas has increased since Obama took office, and said those hardest hit by it are rural and suburban residents who commute and drive the most.

If America’s energy resources are fully developed, Allen said “it will provide thousands of good paying jobs, more affordable fuels, groceries and electricity. We will be a more competitive country and more secure internationally.”

Following his speech, Allen was asked about the entry of Del. Bob Marshall into the Republican race for the nomination.

Allen didn’t mention Marshall by name.

“We are doing what we need to be doing building a grassroots insurgency that will help us in the primary,’’ he said of the June Republican Primary that pits Allen against Marshall, Jamie Radtke, David McCormick and E.W. Jackson.

Much of Allen’s reponse to questions Friday centered on a less intrusive federal government. He said the federal government’s “number one priority is national security and national defense.”

Should he win the Republican nomination and defeat Democrat Tim Kaine in November, Allen said he wants to work to repeal the federal healthcare law.

He also favors a balanced budget amendment in the U.S. Constitution and would like to see a line-item veto option. “A line item veto is something I used 17 times as governor,’’ he said.

The race between Kaine and Allen is heating up to be one of the closest statewide in several years.

A mid-January poll by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research shows Kaine and Allen dead even, each garnering 46 percent.

But Kaine did garner a six-point advantage over Allen among independent voters.

Kaine for Virginia Communications Director Brandi Hoffine released the following statement: "George Allen's promise to balance the budget is about six years late and $3 trillion short. Allen had the chance to prove that Virginians could trust him during his previous term in the Senate and instead he turned a record surplus into a record deficit, added more than $3 trillion to the national debt and voted against measures to help balance the budget while voting to raise his own pay. Virginians couldn't afford the first six years of George Allen, and they certainly can't afford six more."