In Key Suburbs, Anger, Apathy On Senate Race

By Amy Gardner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 5, 2006

In Northern Virginia's politically crucial suburbs, the combatants in the tight race for U.S. Senate are fighting the intricate emotions of anger and indifference almost as much as they are fighting each other.

Anger, as in this perspective from Tim Courson, 61, a marketing consultant from Centreville: "We've just got the wrong people in power right now, and I'm hoping the Democrats take both houses."

And indifference, as in this view from Mike W. Schafer, 35, a salesman from Ashburn: "Ugh. I don't like either one of them, to be honest with you."

If the anger -- over Iraq, at President Bush, at Republican leaders in Congress -- pushes enough of Northern Virginia's huge electorate to the polls Tuesday, the region could take credit for sweeping Democrat James Webb into office, political analysts said.

If the indifference prevails -- the doubts about the character of both men, the dismay at their aggressive campaigns -- then more voters will stay home. That is a scenario likely to benefit Sen. George Allen, the Republican incumbent and former governor who is more popular outside Northern Virginia.

Voters in Centreville and Ashburn live in swing precincts, places that aren't reliably Republican or Democratic, but have usually voted for the winner in statewide elections.

Whether picking up their dry cleaning, rushing to retrieve children from school or sitting still for a quick coffee at Starbucks, about two dozen voters in Fairfax and Loudoun counties voiced strong opinions on a variety of topics. Disgust was the strongest one -- but that didn't always make their choice clear.

In this unscientific snapshot of voters' feelings over three days last week, most voters interviewed said they would support Webb -- for change, for his opposition to the war in Iraq, for being more moderate than Allen on such questions as abortion and same-sex marriage.

There were exceptions, including Maryellen Coale, 49, a nurse from Ashburn Farm and a Republican who will vote again for Allen -- for his family values and his social conservatism, she said.

Many others said they were put off in equal measures by both candidates, primarily because of what they view as nasty campaign tactics. They said the attacks are often irrelevant, such as accusations that Allen used racial slurs as a young man (which he denies), or that Webb has questionable attitudes toward women because of explicit sexual content in his novels. No matter whom they choose, they will have to hold their noses, many said -- and maybe they won't vote at all.

"It's a tossup," said Orlando Gonzalez, 41, a defense contractor on his way out of a Giant supermarket in Ashburn on a recent weekday evening. "It's the worse of two evils."

Yet even as they professed repugnance at the campaigns, voters acknowledged being influenced by what they hear. They said questions of character -- raised primarily by the campaigns -- will weigh heavily as they make their final decision. Although most dismissed Allen's alleged use of epithets ("I don't see that as important at all. Who cares?" said Haydee P. Lauderman, 73, of Ashburn), more were troubled by an incident this year, when Allen, at a campaign stop, called an Indian American campaign worker for Webb "macaca."

"The whole macaca thing didn't help," Gonzalez said. "It definitely was racist. He's part of the good-old-boy network."

Many voters also were troubled by Webb's writings on women in combat -- most notably a 1979 Washingtonian article titled "Women Can't Fight."

"Allen wasn't able to defend some of the things he said earlier in his life," said Jim K. Watson, 40, a sales manager from Ashburn running errands after work last week. "But the same is true for Webb."

Like many voters interviewed in Ashburn, the eastern Loudoun County community dominated until recently by Republican wins, Watson describes himself as a fiscal conservative and a moderate on social issues who tends to vote Republican. Although he voted for Allen in 2000, he said he is undecided this year.

That makes him a potential bellwether in a precinct (Stone Bridge) just a few miles northwest of Dulles International Airport that went overwhelmingly for President Bush in 2004 but chose Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine last year.

Watson said he is troubled by the polarization in national politics. He is unhappy with Republican leadership, particularly on the war in Iraq. But he is equally pessimistic that a Democratic takeover would yield anything but more gridlock in Washington.

"If the House turns over, nothing's going to happen in the next two years, and that really bums me out," he said. "There's no independent voices out there. There's no one in the middle."

A few miles to the east, in the Sully district of western Fairfax County, voters have turned more regularly to Democrats in recent elections after years of Republican domination. There, the dissatisfaction with Republicans was more pervasive than in Loudoun.

Courson, the marketing consultant sipping a coffee at Starbucks in the Stone precinct of western Fairfax, was virulent in his disdain for Republicans, Bush and their policies regarding Iraq.

Courson has lived in Centreville for 21 years, and he remembers a time when signs for Democratic candidates were unheard of in an area that until recently was viewed as a Republican enclave. Now, an informal survey of such neighborhoods as Xanadu Estates and Belle Pond Farm reveal at least as many signs for Webb as for Allen. Courson has always voted Democratic, he said, but his anger is deeper than usual this year, and so is that of many of his neighbors.

"I think Webb's chances are really good," Courson said. "If you would have asked me that two months ago, I would have said, 'Well, Allen will just keep going with his smooth commercials and base of support.' But he's fighting for dear life just to hang in there."

And Webb is fighting the indifference. His challenge in these final few days of the campaign: Give voters a reason to venture out.

"What I want to know is, where are the great hearts?" asked John R. Maulella, 39, a U.S. Customs employee from the Franklin Farm neighborhood of western Fairfax who tends to vote Republican. Maulella is not compelled by either candidate. Although he said he will probably vote, he is still not sure whom he will support.

"We have bureaucrats," Maulella said. "We have frontmen. We have publicity people. We have faces. But I don't know if we have a whole lot of leadership."