Ex-Navy Secretary Wins Virginia Senate Primary
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By ANNE E. KORNBLUT
The New York Times
June 14, 2006
WASHINGTON — James Webb won the Democratic Senate nomination in Virginia on Tuesday night, securing his role as the challenger to the incumbent Republican, George Allen, in this fall's midterm election.
With 80 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. Webb, a former Republican who served as Navy secretary during the Reagan administration, had 69,256 votes, or 54 percent. His opponent in the primary election, Harris Miller, a former lobbyist who spent about $1 million of his own money on the race, had 58,716 votes, or 46 percent.
National Democratic Party leaders had pinned their hopes on Mr. Webb as the more viable challenger to Mr. Allen, a popular incumbent who is also considered a potential 2008 presidential candidate.
Indeed, the primary played out against the backdrop of the next presidential race. Both Mr. Webb and Mr. Miller began their campaigns after Mark Warner, the former Democratic Virginia governor and a potential presidential contender, decided not to challenge Mr. Allen. And in the final hours of the race, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004 and another possible candidate in 2008, appeared with Mr. Webb.
With a campaign slogan — "Born Fighting" — that emphasized his independence and his national security experience, Mr. Webb had come under fire from his opponent as having dubious Democratic credentials. Mr. Miller, a party stalwart well known in heavily Democratic Northern Virginia, had repeatedly campaigned on the fact that Mr. Webb had endorsed both Mr. Allen and President Bush in 2000.
Mr. Webb had campaigned against Mr. Miller for his liberal spending on the race, at one point distributing fliers that showed Mr. Miller with money flowing from his pockets and a hooked nose. Mr. Miller, who is Jewish, denounced the image as anti-Semitic; Mr. Webb denied intending a slur.
Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the head of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and a champion of Mr. Webb's, credited his independent streak and his aggressive campaigning for the victory.
"People wanted a candidate who spoke his mind, who said what he thought, who was going to shake Washington up," Mr. Schumer said in an interview after the election results were in. "I think this is going to be quite an interesting race."
Mr. Schumer said that with Mr. Webb's victory, he expected the Virginia race to become more competitive and to put the balance of the Senate into play.
"I think people want change, and George Allen has been part of the status quo," Mr. Schumer said.
Dick Wadhams, the campaign manager for Mr. Allen, said, "We hope that Senator Schumer and John Kerry and Tom Daschle and Harry Reid campaign all day every day in Virginia for Jim Webb."
Mr. Allen, a former Virginia governor and the son of a renowned coach of the Washington Redskins, was first elected in 2000. |
