Allen and Webb Scramble To Break Voter Traditions
Military, Black Voters May Swap Loyalties

By Lisa Rein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 4, 2006

HAMPTON, Nov. 3 -- U.S. Sen. George Allen and Democratic challenger James Webb fired up black voters Friday on swings through southeast Virginia, the state's most populous region outside the Washington suburbs.

Allen, a Republican who has struggled to win support from black voters since his days as governor in the 1990s, won the enthusiastic backing of more than a dozen ministers from black churches in the Tidewater area. They said they were driven to Allen's side by his support for the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage on Tuesday's ballot.

"Judges are going after the most important institution of all in our society: the family," Allen said, delivering a passionate critique of "judges who ignore the will of the people" and of last month's ruling by the New Jersey Supreme Court ordering equal rights for same-sex couples. "The ideal is to have a father and mother raising children. . . . This is a big issue people will be voting on on Nov. 7."

The ministers by his side broke into applause, murmuring "That's right!"

Allen moved to shore up his conservative base with attacks on Webb and the media.

"My opponent is aligned as usual with the national liberal Democrats and the national liberal media as well," he said.

In Norfolk an hour later, Webb, campaigning with former governor and current Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder and U.S. Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-Va.), appealed to students at Norfolk State University, a historically black school, at a homecoming pep rally.

He then headed to a nearby church, where he received a standing ovation from black women and their husbands at the first lunch of a "Women Choose Webb" barnstorming tour, which will feature an appearance by former secretary of state Madeleine Albright Saturday in Falls Church.

"People are thanking us for running a clean campaign. I've made no personal comments about George Allen, though I've been tempted," Webb said.

The themes of Webb's campaign -- a critique of the Iraq war and the expansion of corporate profits at workers' expense -- seemed to resonate with the audience. "That's obscene!" one woman yelled when Webb said U.S. corporate chief executive officers make 400 times the wages of the average American worker.

Hampton Roads, with its mix of Democratic-leaning cities and dominant GOP suburbs, has been a battleground for Allen and Webb as the unpredictable showdown has tightened into one of the country's most closely watched races. Not only is the area home to tens of thousands of black voters, but it is also Virginia's largest community of active duty and retired military, with a sprawling Norfolk naval station and several other bases. Gigantic cranes of shipbuilders dominate the skyline.

The candidates have made numerous campaign stops from Portsmouth to Virginia Beach and poured money into TV advertising. With Webb running strongest in Northern Virginia and Allen likely to capture majorities in the Shenandoah Valley, Southside and southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads is a must-win corner of the state for both.

African Americans make up about 20 percent of Virginia's voters and are key to statewide Democrats' successes. But Webb's stance on affirmative action, which he once called "state-sponsored racism," could alienate some of them Tuesday.

Allen turned off many blacks early in his political career with his affinity for the Confederate flag and opposition to a state holiday commemorating the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Although blacks here still represent a crucial base of support for Webb, Allen ran up overwhelming margins among the military in his race for governor in 1993 and captured 50 percent of the region's vote when he won his first Senate term in 2000. He lunched Friday in Newport News with executives from the modeling and simulation companies.

Other Republicans, such as Sen. John W. Warner, also have shown strength there. But former Gov. Mark R. Warner, a Democrat, carried the region in 2001, and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) beat former attorney general Jerry W. Kilgore (R) in the 2nd Congressional District, which includes Virginia Beach and parts of Norfolk and Hampton.

Webb, a decorated Vietnam War veteran and former Republican who has become a face of the antiwar movement, said Thursday he is confident he has built a coalition of black voters and active-duty and retired military who oppose the Iraq war.

"With folks on active duty, you have the potential, with the mismanagement of this war, to see a huge shift" to Democratic support, Webb said outside the Norfolk church. "They've become much more vocal."

A Webb supporter from Virginia Beach who attended the lunch acknowledged the difficulty for a Democrat to crack the strong Republican tilt of military families. "But I think there are a lot of Republicans down here, veterans in particular, who feel they've been misled" by the Bush administration on the war, said Susan Mariner, whose husband is a veteran of the first Iraq war.

Allen, likewise, is counting on votes from a constituency that has not historically gravitated to Republicans. Polls show strong support from blacks on the same-sex marriage question, which could drive turnout, and, the Allen campaign hopes, support.