Allen's Advisers Try Mute-Button Strategy

RICHMOND -- Weeks after George Allen 's mouth got him into serious trouble, the senator's advisers have apparently decided that he should shut up.

At least when it comes to talking directly to the media, that is.

With less than a month before Election Day, Allen (R-Va.) has become virtually impossible to interview directly, giving his campaign handlers much more control over the message they send to voters. What voters see this month will be -- they hope -- only what they want voters to see.

The idea, apparently, is to avoid any further gaffes. In August, he called an Indian American worker for his challenger "macaca," a slur. Last month, in the middle of a story about his recently discovered Jewish roots, he told a reporter that his mother still "made great pork chops."

Now, though, he has turned to some of his longtime advisers, who have concluded that if Allen simply doesn't talk to the media, he can't make any more of those mistakes.

A dramatic example of this came Monday night, at the last of four scheduled debates between Allen and challenger James Webb .

During the televised event, Allen presented himself as eager to answer questions, showing his skill as a debater by parrying queries from the panel, the moderator and even from his Democratic challenger with well-scripted answers designed to fit within a one-minute or 30-second window.

But as soon as the klieg lights went off, Allen was quickly led away by aides, through the gathering crowd of reporters, into the adjoining makeup room at the TV studio and out of reach. News cameras and print reporters raced after him, to no avail.

His opponent, Democrat James Webb, had an impromptu news conference with reporters in the studio.

There are other examples of Allen's campaign attempting to control access to the candidate.

The campaign has begun using a conference-calling system to conduct telephone-based news conferences, which are common in the last month of many campaigns.

The new system requires reporters to listen to Allen's comments without interruption and then push "*1" when they want to ask a question. Their names will pop up on a staffer's computer screen in chronological order. The campaign staff then decides which reporters will be allowed to ask a question.