Campaign Is a Yawner No Longer
2 Democratic Novices Are Suddenly Shaking Up Allen's Reelection Bid

By Robert Barnes and Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, April 9, 2006

Donald S. Beyer Jr., the longtime Virginia Democratic pol and virtuoso salesman, said he has learned an important rule about filling key jobs in the family auto business: "Don't hire from the outside. You don't know what you're getting."

But the crowd of Democratic activists, middle-aged bottoms balanced on seats made for seventh-graders in a Fairfax County school cafeteria, knew that Beyer was not just talking about cars. The former lieutenant governor and unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate was talking about how Democrats should view the two Northern Virginia political newbies -- the insider and the outsider -- who have taken on the task that Beyer himself was reluctant to embrace: running for the Senate against the gregarious and conservative Republican incumbent, George Allen, who is seeking his second term.

Democrats once would have been happy to find even one person willing to run against Allen, one of the state's most popular politicians and the odds-on favorite for reelection.

But a changing political climate -- both in the country and in the commonwealth -- has produced a race closely watched nationally for signals about Virginia's revitalized Democratic Party, the commonwealth's status as a reliably Republican state in federal elections and Allen's own presidential aspirations for 2008.

Beyer's candidate is insider Harris Miller, a high-tech executive, lobbyist and Democratic loyalist who for years has worked in the background of political campaigns. Beyer reminisced about the two of them writing issue papers that helped get Democrat Gerald L. Baliles elected governor in 1985.

"He's been an ardent, active, committed, working Democrat all his life. . . . Harris Miller did not have to change or modify who he is or what he believes or what he stands for in order to get into this race," Beyer told the Fairfax County Democratic Committee members. And they should know: Miller, 54, was the group's president for six years.

His opponent is James H. Webb, a Vietnam hero, author and recently minted Democrat who was hoisted into the race about a month ago by bloggers and almost evangelical Internet followers who love the combination of his military past and from-the-jump opposition to the Iraq war. They overlook that he worked for Ronald Reagan, voted for George W. Bush the first time around and even endorsed Allen six years ago; they think he's electable.

Webb said that "there are a lot of people out there like me -- red-state folks, working-class people" who never felt comfortable in the Republican Party because of what he called its reliance on "God, guns, gays, abortion and the flag." Webb said that those voters are open to a different kind of Democratic message and that he "can bring 'em back."

In the June 13 primary, any Virginia voter who wants to be a Democrat for a day can participate, and the state's lack of seriously contested Democratic primaries makes it difficult to predict. Last year, a Democratic primary for lieutenant governor drew 2.6 percent of voters.

Miller was the first to get in the race, back when Democrats were worried about finding a challenger to Allen. It is just one of the favors that put him in good stead with the party establishment and earned him the support of many elected officials, especially in Northern Virginia.

"I've known Harris for a quarter of a century," said Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D), who has endorsed Miller. "He's a known quantity. For a lot of people, he is a comfortable fit."

Miller's rise from the "coal and steel country of western Pennsylvania" to the high-tech corridors of Northern Virginia lends itself to the American Dream background that politicians crave, and it has also made him a wealthy man. He offered for the first three months of this year to put in $1 of his own money for every $2 his campaign raises.

Miller describes himself variously as a "Virginia Democrat" and "Mark Warner Democrat" and has put together an aggressive team of workers from the winning campaigns of the former governor and his successor, Timothy M. Kaine. (Both men say they are neutral in the primary, although Warner attended a Miller fundraiser scheduled before Webb got in the race.)

But at the gathering in Fairfax, Miller still looked more like the behind-the-scenes guy than the candidate. He gave a somewhat generic Democratic stump speech that was heavy on criticizing Allen for being a "rubber stamp" for Bush.

"George Allen agrees with George Bush 97 percent of the time," Miller said, referring to analyses of Allen's voting record. "I don't even agree with my wife, Deborah, that much, and she's a lot smarter than George Bush."

But Miller carries some liabilities for a Democrat. His role as president of the Information Technology Association of America is more simply translated by the Webb campaign as "lobbyist," not the optimum job title for an office seeker in the post-Jack Abramoff era. And his position on privatizing some public-sector jobs has brought grumbling from organized labor, an important force in the Democratic primary.

Democrats looking for breaks with the party's orthodoxy will find a treasure trove with Webb, who, besides serving as President Reagan's secretary of the Navy, has challenged the party's positions on women in the military, gun control and affirmative action, to name just a few. He has made scorching comments about some of the party's presidents and presidential contenders. Researchers for Miller and Allen are still reading through his seven books and numerous op-ed articles for ammunition.

Webb's unlikely campaign has provided the juice in the race; not many candidates appear on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" even before phone lines have been installed in campaign headquarters.

His early opposition to the war in Iraq and his military-expert's critique of the administration's implementation moved his netroots supporters to start an online movement to draft him to run. He has big fans on the liberal Web site DailyKos.com; former Nebraska senator Bob Kerrey is his national finance chairman; and retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark, a former presidential candidate, has endorsed his campaign.

"When I was speaking out against the war, very few people -- Republicans or Democrats -- wanted to speak out, but Jim Webb did," said Leslie L. Byrne, the former congresswoman and state senator. "I've seen people who call themselves Democrats, but they don't stand up for Democratic values.''

Off-line and in person, the red-haired, 60-year-old Webb seems an awkward and reluctant campaigner. (Steve Jarding and David "Mudcat" Saunders, the Democratic populists who helped craft Warner's winning 2001 message, will be his tutors.) Trailing behind Byrne at the Fairfax school, he waited to be introduced to the party activists. He seems uninterested in small talk, but he is comfortable talking about the issues he wants to talk about -- defense, societal fairness and what he says is an "overreach" by Bush that has put the country "on the verge of a constitutional crisis." His audience cheered.

But asked by a retired teacher what part of the federal No Child Left Behind law should be abandoned, he said, in essence, that he had no clue. And he gave a long, rambling response to a question about Virginia's proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages, which will be on the November ballot: He is for civil unions, believes marriage is a question best left for religions and expresses concern about the broad nature of the ballot language. "Why not just vote against it?" someone in the audience finally offered.

Allen, 54, is acknowledged, even by Democrats, to be a consummate campaigner, and he started the year with more than $6 million in his campaign fund. But the commonwealth's junior senator also has been less than sure-footed lately as he tries to balance his reelection campaign and his presidential ambitions.

While campaigning in Iowa, he told a New York Times reporter that the Senate was "too slow" for him. Democrats pounced on what they hope will be a key issue: that Allen is not really interested in serving another term in the Senate.

"If he's that bored, he should quit," Miller said.

Instead, Allen's chief of staff, Dick Wadhams, hired to shepherd Allen's national ambitions, announced that he was taking a leave from the Senate office to run Allen's reelection effort in Virginia.