Allen Campaign Blames Webb Campaign For Scuffle

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The U.S. Senate campaign of George Allen said the physical altercation at a campaign event began when a heckler pushed a campaign staff member.

"This has been typical of the (James) Webb campaign, wanting to provoke and create an incident," Allen said at a road opening in Loudoun County on Wednesday. "It's unfortunate, and I would like to see Mr. Webb denounce this sort of activity."

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Webb campaigned in the Roanoke area on Wednesday and said that he had not seen the tape of the incident and didn't want to talk about it.

"I have not generated any of the animosities on those sorts of issues and I'm just not going to comment about it," Webb said.

But in response to the Allen campaign's claim that the Webb campaign was behind the incident, Webb said it was another example of a vicious pattern.

"What you're seeing on the other side is classic Karl Rove tactics," Webb said. "It's character assassination, wedge issues, and look, if I was running for reelection, if I had six years in the Senate, I'd be telling you what I did. I'd be sitting here saying, 'This is my record.' I wouldn't be doing this stuff. I regret that this campaign has been run like that."

The latest controversy started Monday when an Allen campaign official allegedly tackled a liberal blogger in Charlottesville, Va., as Allen was walking through a lobby with Sen. Elizabeth Dole.

Allen was about to talk with members of the media in a lobby when a man walked up and started yelling. As he was pushed away from the senator, the man yelled, "Did you spit on your first wife?" He was then tackled by another man who was wearing an Allen sticker on his shirt.

The man was then escorted out of the building as Allen moved into a conference room.

The man who was thrown to the ground was Mike Stark, a first-year University of Virginia law student and liberal blogger who has dogged Allen at a number of campaign stops, News4's Julie Carey reported. He routinely questions the senator in the manner of documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, but on Tuesday his shouted questions drew the ire of Allen's supporters.

Stark writes on his blog about some of his confrontations with Allen. He also writes that he's been involved in making videos critical of the senator that have been posted on the popular Web site YouTube.

In fact, after Tuesday's incident, it took national Democratic party leaders only a few hours to steer supporters to a Web site that featured the video under the headline: "Allen Staffers Attack Man At Campaign Stop."

"People have a right to express themselves and do it in a peaceful manner," Allen said of the incident. "I know some of them out there. At least one I recognize. I know in Charlottesville there are always protesters. That's just part of it."

According to Allen's campaign, Stark was asked to leave a Holiday Inn in August after interrupting a press conference that Allen was conducting.

Stark told The Associated Press that as a constituent, he should be allowed to ask a question to his senator.

Allen's former wife, Anne Waddell, issued a statement Tuesday calling Stark's question "a baseless, cheap shot."

A public official in Charlottesville confirmed that Stark plans to press charges against the men who grabbed him. Police planned to meet with him later Tuesday.

Tuesday's scuffle came on the heels of another poll showing Allen trailing Democrat Jim Webb -- the third in recent days to show a slip in what was a slight lead for the Republican incumbent. According to the latest CNN poll, Webb is in the lead in the Virginia senate race with 50 percent of voters surveyed. Allen had 46 percent. Four percent of the voters questioned in the poll said they are still undecided, but the race is still statistically tied because and there is a 4 percent margin of error.

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