Allen allies urge a focus on taxes

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RICHMOND -- Virginia conservatives say an unrelenting focus on taxes will give U.S. Sen. George Allen a win over Democratic challenger James H. Webb Jr. in next month's election.

During a debate Monday night, Mr. Allen, a Republican, hammered Mr. Webb on taxes and yesterday kept up the attack. The Allen campaign Web site yesterday declared: "Hillary Clinton gave James Webb Jr. 1,000,000 reasons to raise taxes on 3 million hard-working Virginians."

"He showed he was the conservative choice and that it would be too dangerous to let the Democrats get control of the Senate," said Steve Rossie of Richmond, who yesterday attended a meeting of the anti-tax Tuesday Morning Group.

Conservatives irritated with national Republicans on fiscal issues say Mr. Allen finally has landed on a winning strategy in the final weeks of the race, one of the hottest in the nation with the major candidates nearly tied in the polls.

The charge that Mr. Webb opposes making President Bush's tax cuts permanent echoes the theme of an Allen attack ad that features images of Mrs. Clinton and Democratic Sens. John Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, all of whom support Mr. Webb.

During the debate, Mr. Webb called corporate-tax loopholes unfair and noted that Mr. Allen allowed the tuition tax credit to die, costing families $4,000 per year.

"We have huge deficits, we kid ourselves if we don't say that we need more revenues," he said.

Mr. Webb released an ad responding to Mr. Allen's tax accusations, calling them lies and saying that his plan would cut taxes for the middle class and veterans.

"Virginians have a choice: George Allen's political sewage or Jim Webb's new direction," the ad concludes.

The tax theme will continue through Election Day because "when you've got a Republican versus a Democrat debating on taxes, we win the issue," Allen adviser Chris LaCivita said.