The Forecast: 6 More Weeks Of Mud for Va.

Allen on Tuesday continued to dispute charges that he used the "N-word" in the past. Two former associates said they recalled his use of the word, and one described an incident involving Allen stuffing a severed deer head into the mailbox of a black person.

The senator has called those accusations "totally false" and "nonsense." His campaign tried to cast doubt yesterday on the credibility of one of his accusers, radiologist R. Kendall Shelton.

Allen adviser Chris LaCivita pointed out news stories from January in North Carolina, where Shelton lives, about a woman who opened her mailbox to find a severed deer head. He suggested that Shelton's story may have been a fabrication based on that North Carolina incident.

Shelton called that ridiculous. He said he was not familiar with the town of Lumber Bridge, where the mailbox incident occurred. "I don't even know where that is," Shelton said.

University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato, who attended U-Va. with Allen, insisted again Tuesday that he believes Allen has used racial epithets, although he acknowledged that he has never heard him directly.

In an interview on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" on Monday, Sabato said, "I'm simply going to say that I'm going to stay with what I know is the case. And the fact is that he did use the N-word, whether he's denying it now or not. He did use it."

LaCivita declined to criticize Sabato. "All I'm going to say about Larry is that he and George did not hang around the same people."

Webb campaigned Tuesday with former vice presidential candidate John Edwards in Fredericksburg, capping a week in which he raised nearly $1 million in a series of star-studded events.

His campaign confirmed that it raised about $100,000 in online donations after a debate on Meet the Press and about $300,000 at a fundraiser with former Gov. Mark R. Warner (D). Webb also collected about $200,000 at a fundraiser with authors John Grisham and Stephen King.

Webb also held a news conference with several former military officials who reiterated their support for the Democrat.

"He has the courage and integrity to ask the right questions, not just about the military and the armed forces, but about the country," said former NATO commander Wesley Clark.

Asked about the scandal enveloping Allen, Webb declined to comment, saying it was a distraction to his campaign.

"It's not relevant to what I'm trying to do," Webb said.

"There's six weeks left. I'm trying very hard to get our message out so people who will know who I am. That's really what's important to me."