I like a lot of his politics, but I'm not sure he'll win. The mud is already slinging from the left, and some of it may be legitimate. He is being protrayed as a racist:
-When he was a still a lawyer he kept a noose around a tree in front of his office. First, it was spun by him and his people as he was tough on crime. Next it was spun as a lasso and not a noose at all. The opposition to him is protraying it as representing lynching. Since it wasn't a model gallows on his desk but a noose actually hanging from a tree (the way a lynching is done) it is easy for someone to believe his opposition over him (especially with the two different stories from his side). To be honest this one is the one that actually has me a bit concerned (not that if he is racist he'd be our first racist president- most have been in fact).
-He opposed making Martin Luther King Jr's birthday a holiday. Nothing wrong with that, there is a legitimate argument to be made, but it is spun as racism.
-He defended Trent Lott when Lott got in trouble for praising Storm Thurmond and saying the US would have been a better country if Thurmond had won the presidency when he ran (remember, when he ran he ran as a segragationist). Well, like a lot of people I don't think Lott had such things in mind when he praised Thurmond, he was simply flattering a friend, but that isn't how many people see it. For defending Lott it is being spun that Allen is tolerant and sympathetic of racism.
-When he was a state delegate he voted against changing the state song which some said was racist.
-He called the NAACP an extremist group. While the NAACP can indeed be quite extreme, no shock this is being spun as racist.
-As Governor he signed a proclaimation making April "'Confederate Heritage Month". Definately racism according to his opposition. Well, it is more complex than that as most here know.
-Related to the above he called the Civil War "a four-year struggle for independence and sovereign rights". You know how the left is spinning that. In reality, it was much more complex than slavery and states rights and sovereignity was a big issue involved in the Civil War.
-Similar to the above he has a collection of Confederate flags. Very emotional symbolism to many people on both sides of the flag issue.
-He replaced the black member of the University of VA Board of Regents with a white person. I say, pick whomever is most qualified regardless of race. Opponents say that proves racism.
Whatever you think on these issues, decide for yourself. Personally I think he is a proud transplanted southerner (he isn't originally from the south) and that he is not racist. Some may see it as racist. It is certainly already being spun that way by the left. I can see a big smear campaign should he look like he'll be the candidate. Given that, and most American voter's seeming inability to think critically sometimes, I'm not sure that he'll be the best candidate as it may well stick and he may lose as a result.
The Republicans need to put up someone squeeky clean, especially in this year of scandals, because the likely alternatives (Gore, Kerry or H. Clinton) are too scary to even imagine.
