.Webb Wins as Allen Concedes Defeat
By Dale Eisman
November 10, 2006
A triumphant Jim Webb on Thursday shed the combat boots he had worn through nine tough months of campaigning, then pleaded for political reconciliation as he secured a congressional majority for the Democratic Party.
“I am indebted to you and I will not forget my loyalties,” Webb told a crowd of about 400 cheering supporters in a plaza near Arlington’s courthouse.
Webb claimed the 51st Democratic seat in the 100-member Senate that convenes in January after taking an early afternoon concession call from incumbent Republican George Allen. The two men agreed to cooperate on an official transition, Webb said, and “I thanked him for his many years of service.”
Allen “was very gracious,” he added.
Webb’s campaign-style rally contrasted sharply with the subdued mood among about 100 Allen loyalists who had gathered earlier in Alexandria for their leader’s withdrawal.
With Webb leading by only 8,941 votes in still-unofficial tallies, Allen said he understands he is entitled to a recount , but the legal battle that demand would bring could last until Christmas and “would, in my judgment, not alter the results,” he declared.
“The people of Virginia … the owners of the government, have spoken,” Allen said.
The gentle rhetoric on both sides came after a bruising campaign in which Democrats cast Allen as a liar and a puppet for President Bush and Republicans charged that Webb had demeaned women and written salacious novels.
In his victory speech, Webb called on Bush to “publicly denounce the campaign tactics that have divided us rather than brought us together.” He told reporters he believes those tactics make it tougher for the two political parties to cooperate after elections are over.
“I think it’s hurt the country,” he said Thursday. “I didn’t allow myself to get angry about it.”
Democrats easily captured control of the House of Representatives in Tuesday’s voting, breaking a 12-year Republican majority. Their new Senate majority, though, was not assured until Webb’s victory became clear.
“It is Virginia that turned the Senate blue!” Gov. Timothy M. Kaine declared in introducing Webb on Thursday.
Underscoring the race’s national importance, New York Sen. Charles Schumer, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, stood alongside Webb for the celebration.
Schumer’s committee poured millions of dollars into television ads that attacked Allen, helping Webb keep most of the commercials directly financed by his campaign more positive.
Senate Democrats “welcome his guidance, his leadership, his integrity and his steadfastness,” Schumer said of Webb.
The 60-year-old Webb is a former Republican who served in the 1980s as assistant secretary of defense and secretary of the Navy under President Reagan. He said he believes his candidacy helped encourage other disaffected Republicans to migrate to the Democratic Party.
His victory gives Virginia Democrats wins in three of the last four contests for governor and the Senate.
“Mark Warner began a journey. Tim Kaine has added onto it. We’re going to add onto it even more,” Webb promised.
Webb trailed Allen, a former governor who built a reputation as a conservative reformer in the 1990s, by 16 percentage points in one mid-summer survey.
However, a series of gaffes by the incumbent, beginning with an Aug. 11 incident in which Allen was caught on tape using an apparent racial slur in referring to a Webb campaign volunteer, pumped life into the Democrat ’s campaign.
Webb said he began to sense victory was possible after a mid-September debate on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“People across the country started focusing on the race, and our campaign finances started improving dramatically,” he told reporters.
Another turning point came in late October, Webb said, when Allen’s campaign circulated passages from several of Webb ’s novels and claimed that sexual references in the books degraded women.
After that attack, Webb said he began getting e-mails and other messages from evangelical Christians and others who told him the Allen camp “had gone too far.”
Often a stiff campaigner, Webb plunged into Thursday’s friendly crowd to shake hands and sign autographs after his speech. He hugged his campaign manager, Jessica Vanden Berg, and laughingly told reporters that “it is a little different talking to you without worrying about how the other side is going to spin it.”
Before the rally, Webb had been out of public view since shortly before 2 a.m. Wednesday, when he made an initial victory claim at a hotel in Vienna.
Aides said Webb had been relaxing at home since then with his wife, Hong Le, and his four children and visiting with about a dozen of his Marine Corps buddies from the Vietnam War. The men came in to be with Webb on Election Night.
Webb signaled that the Marines and the other military branches will be a focus of his attention in the Senate, beginning his victory speech by recognizing troops serving worldwide.
“Wherever they are, we all have them in our hearts and in our prayers,” he said.
Much of Webb’s campaign was built around his opposition to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, and he had termed the election a referendum on Bush’s decision to go to war and management of the battle.
He hopes to work on national security issues in the Senate, Webb said , but also wants to focus on social and economic concerns and curbing presidential powers that he believes have been largely unchecked since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“I look forward to joining Sen ator Schumer very soon in voting to increase the minimum wage,” he said.
Webb said he already has spoken to Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, who will be majority leader in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and asked for assignments to three committees. During the campaign, he said repeatedly that he hoped to join the Armed Services Committee, which will be led until January by fellow Virginia Sen. John Warner, but he declined to divulge details of his talk with Reid.
“Now’s the time to get on with the business of governing,” he said.
November 10, 2006
A triumphant Jim Webb on Thursday shed the combat boots he had worn through nine tough months of campaigning, then pleaded for political reconciliation as he secured a congressional majority for the Democratic Party.
“I am indebted to you and I will not forget my loyalties,” Webb told a crowd of about 400 cheering supporters in a plaza near Arlington’s courthouse.
Webb claimed the 51st Democratic seat in the 100-member Senate that convenes in January after taking an early afternoon concession call from incumbent Republican George Allen. The two men agreed to cooperate on an official transition, Webb said, and “I thanked him for his many years of service.”
Allen “was very gracious,” he added.
Webb’s campaign-style rally contrasted sharply with the subdued mood among about 100 Allen loyalists who had gathered earlier in Alexandria for their leader’s withdrawal.
With Webb leading by only 8,941 votes in still-unofficial tallies, Allen said he understands he is entitled to a recount , but the legal battle that demand would bring could last until Christmas and “would, in my judgment, not alter the results,” he declared.
“The people of Virginia … the owners of the government, have spoken,” Allen said.
The gentle rhetoric on both sides came after a bruising campaign in which Democrats cast Allen as a liar and a puppet for President Bush and Republicans charged that Webb had demeaned women and written salacious novels.
In his victory speech, Webb called on Bush to “publicly denounce the campaign tactics that have divided us rather than brought us together.” He told reporters he believes those tactics make it tougher for the two political parties to cooperate after elections are over.
“I think it’s hurt the country,” he said Thursday. “I didn’t allow myself to get angry about it.”
Democrats easily captured control of the House of Representatives in Tuesday’s voting, breaking a 12-year Republican majority. Their new Senate majority, though, was not assured until Webb’s victory became clear.
“It is Virginia that turned the Senate blue!” Gov. Timothy M. Kaine declared in introducing Webb on Thursday.
Underscoring the race’s national importance, New York Sen. Charles Schumer, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, stood alongside Webb for the celebration.
Schumer’s committee poured millions of dollars into television ads that attacked Allen, helping Webb keep most of the commercials directly financed by his campaign more positive.
Senate Democrats “welcome his guidance, his leadership, his integrity and his steadfastness,” Schumer said of Webb.
The 60-year-old Webb is a former Republican who served in the 1980s as assistant secretary of defense and secretary of the Navy under President Reagan. He said he believes his candidacy helped encourage other disaffected Republicans to migrate to the Democratic Party.
His victory gives Virginia Democrats wins in three of the last four contests for governor and the Senate.
“Mark Warner began a journey. Tim Kaine has added onto it. We’re going to add onto it even more,” Webb promised.
Webb trailed Allen, a former governor who built a reputation as a conservative reformer in the 1990s, by 16 percentage points in one mid-summer survey.
However, a series of gaffes by the incumbent, beginning with an Aug. 11 incident in which Allen was caught on tape using an apparent racial slur in referring to a Webb campaign volunteer, pumped life into the Democrat ’s campaign.
Webb said he began to sense victory was possible after a mid-September debate on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“People across the country started focusing on the race, and our campaign finances started improving dramatically,” he told reporters.
Another turning point came in late October, Webb said, when Allen’s campaign circulated passages from several of Webb ’s novels and claimed that sexual references in the books degraded women.
After that attack, Webb said he began getting e-mails and other messages from evangelical Christians and others who told him the Allen camp “had gone too far.”
Often a stiff campaigner, Webb plunged into Thursday’s friendly crowd to shake hands and sign autographs after his speech. He hugged his campaign manager, Jessica Vanden Berg, and laughingly told reporters that “it is a little different talking to you without worrying about how the other side is going to spin it.”
Before the rally, Webb had been out of public view since shortly before 2 a.m. Wednesday, when he made an initial victory claim at a hotel in Vienna.
Aides said Webb had been relaxing at home since then with his wife, Hong Le, and his four children and visiting with about a dozen of his Marine Corps buddies from the Vietnam War. The men came in to be with Webb on Election Night.
Webb signaled that the Marines and the other military branches will be a focus of his attention in the Senate, beginning his victory speech by recognizing troops serving worldwide.
“Wherever they are, we all have them in our hearts and in our prayers,” he said.
Much of Webb’s campaign was built around his opposition to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, and he had termed the election a referendum on Bush’s decision to go to war and management of the battle.
He hopes to work on national security issues in the Senate, Webb said , but also wants to focus on social and economic concerns and curbing presidential powers that he believes have been largely unchecked since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“I look forward to joining Sen ator Schumer very soon in voting to increase the minimum wage,” he said.
Webb said he already has spoken to Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, who will be majority leader in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and asked for assignments to three committees. During the campaign, he said repeatedly that he hoped to join the Armed Services Committee, which will be led until January by fellow Virginia Sen. John Warner, but he declined to divulge details of his talk with Reid.
“Now’s the time to get on with the business of governing,” he said.
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