Republican Sen. George Allen
Democrats' Senate takeover complete
Republican Sen. George Allen concedes defeat in his re-election bid, chooses not to demand recount
Republican Sen. George Allen conceded defeat Thursday in his re-election bid, sealing the Democrats’ takeover of the Senate and concluding a dramatic fall for a one-time top-tier presidential contender.
Allen conceded at an afternoon news conference, saying the “Owners of government have spoken and I respect their decision.”
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Democrats may have conquered both houses of Congress, and so have Jewish politicians. Number of Jewish senators rises from 11 t o13 and number of Jewish representatives jumps to 30 thanks to six new faces creating all-time high of Jewish politicians in Congress. Another precedent: First Muslim elected to House
“The Bible teaches us there is a time and place for everything, and today I called and congratulated Jim Webb,” he said.
Webb, a former Republican and Navy secretary under President Ronald Reagan, claimed victory early Wednesday after election returns showed him with a narrow lead of about 7,200 votes out of 2.37 million ballots cast in the state.
Allen chose not to demand a recount after initial canvassing of the results failed to significantly alter Webb’s lead. Virginia has had two statewide recounts in modern history, resulting in changes of only 37 votes last year and 113 votes in 1989.
The Virginia contest was the last undecided Senate race in the country, and Webb’s victory tipped the scales, giving the Democrats control of 51 of the 100 Senate seats and majorities in both the House and Senate for the first time since 1994.
Comfortably ahead in polls until August
Allen, 54, son of a famed professional football coach, served as governor in the 1990s and was popular for abolishing parole and instituting other conservative reforms. In 2000, he knocked off two-term Democratic Sen. Charles Robb and won plaudits in the Republican Party for what some considered a Reagan-like ability to tout a conservative message in an upbeat manner.
Allen had been expected to cruise to a second term this year and make a run for the White House in 2008. In Webb, however, he faced an unconventional challenger. Supporters drafted Webb, who had not previously run for office, to run because of his early opposition to the Iraq war.
Allen was comfortably ahead in polls until August, when he mockingly referred to a Webb campaign volunteer of Indian descent as “Macaca,” regarded by some as a racial slur. The incident, caught on videotape, became international news. Some former football teammates from the University of Virginia also charged that Allen had commonly used a slur for blacks - something he denied.
Webb, a 60-year-old Naval Academy graduate and decorated Vietnam war veteran, tried to tie Allen to President George W. Bush and the Iraq war during the campaign. He also seized the Reagan edge, having served in the former president’s administration, and used a video in ads that showed Reagan praising him.
Moving swiftly to establish himself as the winner, Webb early Wednesday began assembling a transition team shortly after he proclaimed victory.
“The vote’s been counted and Jim won,” said Webb campaign spokeswoman Kristian Denny Todd. Some absentee ballots remained to be counted, she said, but Webb considered it “A formality more than anything else.”
