Webb is a very interesting guy, a soldier and an intellectual, not afraid to enter the realm of ideas and engage in debate. I think he's complex politically but he's appealing for several reasons:
1) He's not Allen, nor is he vulnerable to the right wing extremists Robertson and Falwell.
2) He's got charisma...if he gets money, watch out, not equal money just enough for some serious media buys, particularly in Tidewater (heavy military, they remember him well) and Southwest Virginia (he's from there).
3) He shows a lot of respect on the race issue and he's thought about it. Sure Wilder would be great to have on board but Wilder is Quixotic, to say the least, and contrarian almost always (excellent governor though). Webb complains that the Democratic Party has never tried to resolve the artificial conflict between black voters and working class whites. He is pro civil rights and he'll make that point. Watch for the Confederate history of Allen to come out (his adorations as a teen in Southern California, he was the only one btw, and the Confederate History Month he tried to pull). Wilder is not a boss by any means and black Virginians can think quite well for themselves.
4) The 53-47% primary has to be questioned. Miller (of Diebold lobbying fame) did real well in Diebold areas. What a surprise. He's the "liberal" right but he sucked air in Northern Virginia. That's due to a smart voting public here, smart enough to know that Miller wanted to ship their jobs over seas and also that he could never win in Virginia. The primary was a 4% affair, very low turnout which is not good but it's also not meaningful.
5) Check the statement out below and imagine a debate between a naturally poised Webb and the churlish Allen and then Webb, The Cinderella Man, gets his opening and "draft dodger" comes out in one form or the other - "It's easy to send men to war when you've never been to war yourself." Allen's nasty temper flares and Webb gives him the "I can kick your ass from here to Sunday afternoon if you want" look. It's all over then.
Here is how Webb's campaign responded to the first "swiftboating" attempt. It's highly instructive of what is to come. You'll savor every word to see how a fighting Democrat behaves:
"From a statement released by Steve Jarding, an adviser to Jim Webb's VA Senate campaign.
http://tinyurl.com/naybx“George Felix Allen Jr. and his
bush-league lapdog, Dick Wadhams, have not earned the right to challenge Jim Webb’s position on free speech and flag burning. Jim Webb served and fought for our flag and what it stands for, while George Felix Allen Jr. chose to cut and run. When he and his disrespectful campaign puppets attack Jim Webb they are attacking every man and woman who served. Their comments are nothing more than weak-kneed attacks by cowards. George Felix Allen Jr. needs to apologize to Jim Webb and to all men and women who have served our nation."
On Tuesday, George Felix Allen Jr. and his campaign issued a press release in which the Allen campaign, through Wadhams, implied that Webb’s position in support of the Free Speech Amendment to the U.S. Constitution amounted to a political act and not a defense of our Constitution, which Webb fought for and for which he was highly decorated. George Felix Allen Jr. did not serve.
“While Jim Webb and others of George Felix Allen Jr.’s generation were fighting for our freedoms and for our symbols of freedom in Vietnam, George Felix Allen Jr. was playing cowboy at a dude ranch in Nevada. People who live in glass dude ranches should not question the patriotism of real soldiers who fought and bled for this country on a real battlefield,” Jarding said. Well then...it will be a barn burner, count on it. Webb will win because that's what he does.
Won't even be close. And Rasmussen is such an ass...believe Zogby.