"If Virginia voters want to pick their next U.S. senator based on issues, Democratic challenger James Webb and Republican incumbent George Allen give them plenty to work with. They disagree on taxes, the war in Iraq, support for the Bush administration, the deficit, how the government should fight terrorism, and a constitutional amendment aimed at same-sex marriage.

If Allen had ever heard of them, they might also disagree about what Webb thinks is the vitally important subject of the Senkaku Islands.

But if the character of the candidate is the deciding factor, Virginians are entering murkier territory in the four weeks before they decide one of the nation's most competitive and high-stakes Senate contests. Will they choose Webb, a man they're still getting to know, or Allen, a man they're having trouble recognizing?

Some Democrats privately worry that Webb -- war hero, military expert, noted novelist, a former Republican who broke with his party over the war in Iraq -- is still an attractive résumé in search of a campaign persona. His appearances on stage with Allen have been described by party professionals as feisty but chilly. And, strapped for cash, he was not able to introduce himself to voters on television before Allen put him on the defensive, especially with women, key voters for any Democratic candidate.

As for Allen, his campaign for reelection is unlike the "insurgencies" he ran as an underdog to become governor in 1993 and turn out Sen. Charles S. Robb (D) in 2000. "I don't recognize this George Allen," said Virginia Tech political scientist Robert Denton.

The gregarious, self-described "rebel" has not looked comfortable defending his lead, which polls show may be down to almost nothing. "Oh, the campaign got off on other things that were not issues, that were not ideas," Allen said with a sigh when Monday night's debate moderator asked what had happened to his lead. "Some of it I brought on myself; some of it was just smears in the campaign."

Allen was caught flat-footed by Webb's Senkaku debate question, payback for when Allen had stumped him in a previous debate.

Allen, who had counted on the conservative base to be key to his presidential ambitions, is now talking about different mentors.

On Monday night, he neglected to mention his record of loyal support to President Bush. But he intoned the endorsement of Virginia's senior Republican, Sen. John W. Warner, who more regularly bucks his party's leadership, at least three times.

How Virginians decide between Allen and Webb is likely to be complicated, influenced by national politics, great demographic changes in the commonwealth and a souring mood about the direction of the country. And although both sides profess a longing to talk about the "issues," they also have made it clear in their advertising and campaign strategies that character will be just as important.

So it is that the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee began a nearly $1 million TV blitz yesterday to revive the moment when Allen turned on a dark-skinned volunteer for the Webb campaign and uttered the campaign-altering word "macaca." (Democratic consultants in Virginia and Washington must have smacked their foreheads when Webb declined, during Monday night's debate, an invitation to address Allen's alleged insult, saying it had been "discussed ad nauseam.")

Allen has had as difficult a time as any Senate incumbent this year. The campaign was thrown off track by the macaca incident, reacted awkwardly to reports of his unacknowledged Jewish heritage and was roiled by allegations that Allen, while a student at the University of Virginia in the early to mid-1970s, routinely used an insulting epithet for blacks.

At the debate, Allen called the charges "baseless allegations." Asked whether the acquaintances and former teammates who have made the charges are lying, Allen responded: "What I've said is, I don't recall using that word. But the stories were portraying it as if that word were part of my vocabulary, which it was not, and that was what's inaccurate."

Webb's own past, especially his prolific writings on everything from military strategy to the Clinton administration, has been a gold mine for opposition research. The Allen campaign has spent more than $1 million on two ads that show female military officers denouncing a 1979 article in which Webb objected in inflammatory language to the idea of women in combat and their presence at the U.S. Naval Academy.

He has apologized for some of the language -- his description of a dormitory as a "horny woman's dream" is fast becoming part of the campaign lexicon -- but not for contributing to the "debate" about the role of women in the military.

"I think most voters have a basic threshold question of whether something [from the past] is relevant today," said Scott Reed, a Republican strategist who managed former senator Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign. If the past behavior seems relatable to voters' current views of a candidate, he said, it becomes a problem.

"The repetition really starts to take its toll," he said. "That's the death by a thousand cuts."

Webb's response has been to point to what he says are thousands of Navy assignments he opened to women when he was secretary of the Navy under President Ronald Reagan and to a crackdown he instituted on sexual harassment. He has countered Allen's ads with ones that have other female military officers making his case, and one radio ad warns, "If George Allen thinks this election is about something someone said 30 years ago, he's the one that has a lot of explaining to do."

Allen has answered the charges that he's racially insensitive by pointing to the civil rights pilgrimages that he has taken as a senator, his support for historically black colleges and universities, and several endorsements from African American Democrats.

How voters will weigh all of that is a mystery. "Character is always a factor in how people make up their minds," said Vic Fazio, a former California congressman and Democratic strategist. He added that voters are forgiving of past actions they might not have liked, as long as the candidate has "atoned."" (Robert Barnes, The Washington Post, October 11, 2006)

Editor's Note: An index to coverage of George Allen on the Loper website may be found at http://loper.org/~george/archives/2006/Aug/925.html