The student center at a Historically Black College like Norfolk State University isn't fertile territory for many Republican candidates, let alone Virginia's George Allen.
Allen's sports fetish runs deep, and he said he was at Norfolk State to talk about his book and not his campaign for Congress. Allen's book is all about how the rules, lessons and ethos of the sporting world could help improve politics in Washington.
And fittingly his 30-minute speech was draped in so many sporting metaphors, coaching lingo and locker room talk that one of the students, Nigeria Allen (no relation), opted to rework her questions into a sporting one just to make sure the former governor would give an answer.
The move drew snickering from the crowd, but George Allen loved it - calling Nigeria "pure gold."
But as Allen ramps up his bid for Senate even the familiar, well-plowed territory of sports talk is dangerous. Early this week, Allen caused a minor stir when he asked a tall black television reporter in Washington what position he played.
The reporter had never played sports and some took offense that Allen would assume that every tall, black man would be athletic. Allen apologized, and the son of former Redskins coach George Allen and a former football player at the University of Virginia explained that he simply uses sports as a good way to connect regardless of race.
Funny thing is I can vouch for Allen's explanation. When we first met years ago my sports background was one of the first things he asked. No offense taken, and he was right sports helped us get comfortable talking with each other.
But Allen is in heavily partisan territory in this 2012 race - and it's only going to get worse when Barack Obama and the Republican-to-be-named-later begin running in earnest in Virginia. State Democrats aren't going to let Allen or Virginia voters forget the way his last campaign ended.
Allen, was up against Jim Webb in 2005, when his supposedly easy re-election campaign was derailed by a grainy video that caught him using an obscure racial epithet to describe his opponent's campaign staffer.
The little known term “macaca” is derogatory slang and has become part of the national political lexicon for a severely damaging political moment. Once a double-digit favorite, Allen ended up losing to Webb in the closest statewide election in Virginia history in 2006.
Allen spent five years in the political wilderness, but began his comeback last year. As the campaign gathers more attention, race is never going to be too far from the surface. Typically, Allen tried to tackle a race question by talking football.
"I grew up in a football family. Race doesn't matter," Allen told the crowd. "I believe everyone regardless of their race deserves the opportunity to compete and succeed."
After the speech, I asked Allen if he was worried that every word he says is going to be dissected to a level that most politicians don't have to worry about.
"When you have the ball everyone is going to be after you, you have to understand that," Allen said. "What I will endeavor to do is run a better campaign myself...talking about ideas."
But in the now famous video from five years ago Allen leads into the slur promising "My friends we're going to run this campaign on positive, constructive ideas..." from there the wheels fell off.
This time around an older Allen is hoping Virginia conservatives remember him fondly, but the instant and constant litmus test for Allen is going to last more than 18-months. Buckle your chinstrap.
Yes, but did he wear his Confederate general's uniform?
Posted by: Dean | Tuesday, April 19, 2011 at 06:52 AM
"..Allen ended up losing to Webb in the closest statewide election in Virginia history in 2006..." Allen lost to Webb by 7200 votes. McDonnell beat Deeds for AG in 2005 by 360 votes.
Posted by: dave.s. | Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 09:19 PM