Allen touts conservative record, ideas

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Virginia Sen. George Allen yesterday said that he will be re-elected by sticking to conservative issues, even as national liberals are funneling cash to his Democratic opponent and linking the senator to an unpopular president.

On Thursday, Mr. Allen will appear with President Bush to refuel his campaign coffers in an effort to counter Democrat James H. Webb Jr.'s robust fundraising and to rally his anti-tax and socially conservative base.

"If it's based on issues, stands on issues, solutions, ideas and a proven record of performance, I think we're going to win," Mr. Allen, a Republican, told editors and reporters at The Washington Times. "The people of Virginia know me as a senator and as a governor."

The first-term senator said that he wants to make the president's tax cuts permanent and expressed support for privately managed health savings accounts and opposition to activist judges. Mr. Allen was scheduled to appear last night in a two-minute statewide campaign commercial with Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John W. Warner.

Mr. Webb's call for "more revenue" because of the billions of dollars being spent on the war in Iraq is a "code word for raising taxes," said Mr. Allen, adding that holding the line on taxes is "one of the most salient issues in our campaign."

Mr. Webb supports rolling back some of Mr. Bush's tax credits for the wealthy, giving a 5 percent tax break for military veterans who serve honorably and extending tax cuts for Virginia's families, such as the college-tuition tax credit. "Any tax breaks that benefit a large section of the American people, I am for," the Democratic challenger said last week.

A former Navy secretary under President Reagan, Mr. Webb has not yet accepted an invitation to be interviewed at The Times.

Mr. Allen once held a commanding lead in his re-election bid and seemed poised for a 2008 White House bid.

However, polls show that Mr. Allen and Mr. Webb are nearly tied in a race that could determine the control of the Senate come Nov. 7. Stars of both parties are crossing the Potomac River and bringing national money to both men.

Mr. Webb has benefited from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's $1 million ad attacking Mr. Allen and from fundraisers hosted by prominent senators such as Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, John Kerry of Massachusetts and Barack Obama of Illinois.