By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 5, 2006; C08

RICHMOND, Nov. 4 -- One of Virginia's closest U.S. Senate races in years headed Saturday toward an unpredictable finish as Republican Sen. George Allen and Democratic challenger James Webb battled across the state to turn out as many voters as possible.

With two days of campaigning left before Tuesday's elections, polls showed a race too close to predict. Allen and Webb have been trading slim leads in recent polls, but most are within the margin of error, indicating a virtual tie. The late momentum generally has favored Webb, analysts said.

Webb latched himself to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and former governor Mark R. Warner on Saturday for a traditional final weekend Democratic swing through the rural communities of southwest Virginia. Allen invited South Dakota Sen. John Thune (R) to help rally voters in Springfield, Harrisonburg, Abingdon and Danville.

"We're in the two-minute drill, team," Allen, a former college quarterback, told a crowd of 75 gathered at the Winchester airport, a football in his hand. "It's really important that you get out and vote. The world is controlled by people who show up."

Meanwhile, supporters of a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage campaigned Saturday for its approval while opponents mounted a fierce effort to become the first state in the nation to turn back such a measure. And the candidates for Congress in a handful of competitive districts tried to gain a last-minute edge.

Allen and Webb continued Saturday with their barrage of television commercials. Allen aides announced that the senator planned to air a two-minute, statewide "infomercial" Monday night, the third such unusually lengthy ad of the fall campaign. Webb continued to outspend Allen on TV, thanks to millions of dollars from the national Democratic Party, which views Virginia as key to its hopes of taking back the Senate.

Before about 300 people in Springfield, Allen touted Friday's release of low national unemployment figures and warned that Webb would raise taxes. Later, he told a crowd outside of Harrisonburg, "We stand for the family. And, I might add, my opponent stands with Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Kerry on the wrong side of that battle."

Webb told a crowd of about 150 in Pulaski, "Folks, this is about leadership as much as it's about one issue or another." At a stop last night in Honaker, in rural Russell County, Webb angrily responded to Allen ads running in the area that accuse him of supporting amnesty for illegal immigrants, gun control and same-sex marriage. "Running against George Allen is like living in a sewer," he said. "I have to wake up every morning holding my nose." Webb later pulled out his permit to carry a concealed weapon and said he was offended that Allen and National Rifle Association are questioning his commitment to the right to bear arms.

The nasty, personal Allen-Webb race has been one of a handful of Senate races dominating national headlines this fall. Six months ago, that is not how Virginia's race was expected to turn out.

Webb, a former Navy secretary, jumped into the Democratic primary in February, offering himself as a Ronald Reagan Republican-turned-Democrat whose service in Vietnam and early opposition to the Iraq war would be an appealing combination.

He defeated Fairfax lobbyist Harris Miller, who invested $1 million of his own money. But the contest left Webb broke by July and with problems in his party, especially among some black voters angered by his position on affirmative action.

As he prepared to take on Allen at the beginning of the summer, Webb trailed by 16 points in polls and was a virtual unknown.

"In so many ways, his was an accidental candidacy that was basically being written off in early August," said Robert D. Holsworth, the director of the Center for Public Policy at Virginia Commonwealth University. "He looked far better on paper than in person."

Allen, a popular former governor with an amiable charm, spent the first half of the year running two campaigns -- for reelection and for consideration as a presidential contender in 2008. He made several trips to presidential primary states, including Iowa and New Hampshire.

"The widespread assumption was this is the first step in a presidential campaign for 2008," said Mark Rozell, a professor of political science at George Mason University. Now, "no one talks seriously about George Allen being presidential timber."

That is largely because of what happened Aug. 11, when Allen was caught on video insulting a Webb volunteer of Indian descent. The video of the "macaca moment" instantly became a national sensation on the Internet, and Allen became the butt of late-night TV jokes.

Since then, Allen has struggled to deal with revelations about his Jewish heritage and to combat allegations that he used racial epithets as part of an ongoing pattern of insensitivity to minorities that began in high school. The controversies have sliced his lead in the polls and given Webb's long-shot candidacy hope.

"People haven't been talking about his record," Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell (R), an Allen ally, said last week on PBS's "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." "There's been a lot of focus . . . on some old controversies that have sort of dominated the airwaves and the media. The senator, I know, has been trying to return the focus to his positive record of accomplishment."

Allen has also been trying to shift the attacks to Webb. He organized a group of female Naval Academy graduates to criticize a 1979 magazine article Webb wrote about women in combat. And he pushed a story about sexually graphic sentences in some of Webb's novels.

Those attacks appear to have worked. In recent polls, Webb is doing worse among likely female voters. Still, Allen has never regained the strength he lost during the summer, and Webb, with the help of high-profile national Democrats such as Clinton, has raised enough money to be competitive at the end.

"He's got the right profile," state Del. Brian J. Moran (D-Alexandria) said of Webb. "And Allen has imploded. I think [Webb] is going to win."

In Winchester, Allen supporter Bob Bartley, 70, a retired builder, called the senator "an exceptionally good man" who, "like most wise people, has made a few mistakes. But despite them, the people of Virginia see through those mistakes and realize he has a very distinguished record."

Enthusiastic voters greeted both candidates Saturday.

At a barbecue in Max Meadows, Gay Nell Cochran got Webb to autograph his book "Born Fighting" for her husband. But Webb refused the $100 check Cochran offered, saying, "Don't even do it. Don't even do it. Just help get the vote."

Kaine said this year's election will prove the state has become more hospitable for Democrats.

"They can say, 'One win is a fluke. Two [wins], my race, it's a fluke,' " Kaine said as he looked at Warner, referring to the former governor's 2001 victory. "We win this one, it's not a fluke, Virginia is changing."

In Harrisonburg, a liberal blogger who was thrown to the ground by Allen supporters last week in Charlottesville again confronted the senator. Blogger Michael Stark was detained by sheriff's deputies after an Allen supporter said Stark pushed him.

A wild card in the Senate campaign could be whether the proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage will have any impact on the get-out-the-vote effort for both campaigns. Republicans had predicted that the ballot question would rally their conservative base for Allen, who has come out in favor of the amendment.

Allen has sought to use the amendment's presence to his advantage, consistently talking up his support for the ballot question and running radio ads in rural and suburban areas that reaffirm his position.

But several Democrats said that if black voters are drawn to the polls to support the amendment, they are likely to cross right over and vote for Webb. African Americans who supported the amendment in a Washington Post poll last month overwhelmingly support Webb.

Staff writers Tim Craig with Webb, Lisa Rein with Allen and Chris L. Jenkins in Washington contributed to this report.