Sen. George Allen (R) Elected 2000, 1st term up 2006
Born:	Mar. 8, 1952, Whittier, CA
Home:	Earlysville
Education:	U. of VA, B.A. 1974, J.D. 1977
Religion:	Presbyterian
Marital Status:	married (Susan)
Elected  Office:	VA House of Delegates, 1982-91; U.S. House of Reps., 1991-92; VA Gov., 1993-97.
Professional Career:	Practicing atty., 1977-91, 1998-99.
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George Allen, a Republican elected in 2000, is one of only six Virginians to serve as governor and senator (the others were James Monroe, John Tyler, Claude Swanson, Harry Byrd Sr. and the man he beat, Charles Robb). Allen grew up in Illinois and California, graduating from high school in Palos Verdes. At that point his father had moved to Virginia to become the highly successful coach of the Washington Redskins ("Hit hard and good things will happen"), and he advised his son to go to college in the area. The younger George Allen graduated from college and law school at the University of Virginia. In 1977 he moved to a country home near Charlottesville and practiced law--wearing boots and chewing tobacco. In 1982 he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates, where he was a conservative backbencher while Robb was governor. In a 1991 special election he won a seat in the U.S. House, which the Democratic legislature promptly redistricted out from under him.

Out of office, he started running for governor in 1993. He maneuvered to get the support of religious conservatives at the 13,000-delegate June 1993 state convention, perhaps the largest legislative body in the history of democracy (and whose real enthusiasm was reserved for its lieutenant governor nominee, home schooling advocate Michael Farris). The Democratic nominee, Attorney General Mary Sue Terry, was better known and had a moderate record on many issues, though she backed some forms of gun control and was pro-abortion rights. Democrats thought gun control and the religious right would hurt Republicans. But Allen won by a whopping 58%-41% margin.

Allen's term as governor (Virginia is the last state to limit governors to one term) was more successful than many had expected. His achievements included a more permissive concealed weapons law, abolition of parole (a big issue in the 1993 campaign), parental notification for abortions and welfare reform that required recipients to work after 90 days and cut off benefits after two years--which resulted in a big decline in welfare rolls. Allen was regarded by his foes as an intellectual lightweight, but his education reforms included Standards of Learning that were probably the toughest in the nation. But in 1995 the legislature rejected Allen's tax cut, and in elections that fall, despite a major effort by Allen, Republicans fell short of winning majorities in the legislature (they finally did so in 1999). Democrats disliked him for his partisanship and activist conservatism; he has a cheerful, sunny temperament but also a penchant for harsh conservative rhetoric. To the 1994 Republican state convention, he said, "My friends--and I say this figuratively--let's enjoy knocking their soft teeth down their whining throats." But he had 68% job approval when he left the governorship.

Out of office in 1998, Allen joined a Richmond law firm, but it was widely expected that he would run against Charles Robb in 2000. Robb was elected lieutenant governor of Virginia in 1977 and governor by a 54%-46% margin in 1981. His record in the Senate was among the more conservative of Democrats, but he found himself in political trouble in 1994 because of scandal. In the Democratic primary Robb beat Delegate Virgil Goode (later, as congressman, an Independent and then a Republican) by the unimpressive margin of 58%-34% and in the general, against Oliver North, the epicenter of the Iran-contra scandal, who spent $20 million, Robb won by only 46%-43%. Robb continued to compile a moderate voting record and worked hard on military issues and on programs with appeal in rural areas, but Allen led in early polls. The centerpiece of Allen's campaign was a $1,000 per child tax credit for educational expenses for both public and private schools. He also called for cutting the cost of public college and for smaller elementary school class sizes. Robb argued that the money would be better invested in federal spending for education. Allen, a bit on the defensive on gun control, said he would vote to renew the assault weapons ban. Robb gained, at last, a lukewarm endorsement from his longtime adversary, former Governor Douglas Wilder; Allen gained a strong endorsement, and backing for his tax credits for education, from that sometime adversary of conservative Republicans, Senator John Warner. In the last weeks of the campaign, Robb accused Allen of an "intolerable" and "appalling" record on racial issues; Democratic flyers attacked him for opposing a federal Martin Luther King Holiday, for displaying a Confederate flag in his house and for displaying a noose in his law office.

Allen won by a narrow 52%-48% margin. His votes tracked very closely with George W. Bush's. Robb, targeting the suburbs, carried Northern Virginia, but by only a 51%-49% margin. With his military credentials, he won in Tidewater Virginia, but by only 52%-48%. Allen carried the Richmond area 55%-45%, and won an even bigger margin, 57%-43%, in the one-third of the state outside these metropolitan areas. A bad sign for Democrats in the future: Robb, elected governor in 1981, carried voters 60 and older; Allen, elected governor in 1993, carried voters under 60, and by wider margins

Majority Leader Trent Lott named Allen head of a Republican high-tech task force. He was the lead sponsor of extending the ban on Internet taxes, which became law in November 2001; in January 2003 he called for making the ban permanent, a measure sure to be opposed by many governors of both parties. Soon after September 11, he called for reopening Reagan National Airport and sponsored the law which provided closed-circuit television of terrorist trials so that victims' relatives could watch. In 2002 he sponsored a bill to enable injured civilian federal workers to receive retirement benefits they were losing while convalescing. In a move opposed by advocates of autonomy for the District of Columbia, he voted to overturn the District's needle exchange program. In May 2002 he and Maryland Democrat Paul Sarbanes called for $3.5 billion more for Navy shipbuilding. In November 2002 he called for including the scheduled 4.1% federal wage increase in the continuing resolution. In 2001 he sponsored a bill to give citizenship to a Chinese scholar arrested while on vacation in Beijing.

After the 2002 election, Allen was picked to succeed Bill Frist as head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee; he had been co-chairman of the Senate and House Republicans' President's Dinner in June 2002. Allen was troubled by Lott's comments at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party December 5 and on December 14 he began urging Frist to run for majority leader and started calling other senators to get their support. On December 18 Allen picked up the phone and called Lott--he was the first senator to tell him he should step down. "I got to the point, which was that we needed a new leader."

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DC Office
204 RSOB 20510, 202-224-4024; Fax: 202-224-5432; Web site: allen.senate.gov

State Offices
Abingdon, 276-676-2646; Herndon,703-435-0039; Richmond,804-771-2221; Roanoke,540-772-4236; Virginia Beach,757-518-1674.

Committees

• NRSC Chairman
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• Commerce, Science & Transportation: Aviation; Communications; Science, Technology & Space; Surface Transportation & Merchant Marine.
• Foreign Relations: East Asian & Pacific Affairs; European Affairs (Chmn.); International Operations & Terrorism; Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps & Narcotics Affairs.
• Small Business & Entrepreneurship.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	10	20	13	0	12	100	55	95	84	85	--
2001	15	--	0	0	--	--	80	100	96	--	100

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	17%	--	77%		32%	--	66%
Social	29%	--	70%		0%	--	62%
Foreign	7%	--	72%		24%	--	67%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 2. Expand Patients' Rights N 3. Campaign Finance Reform N 4. Permit ANWR Development Y 5. Confirm Ashcroft as AG Y 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts Y		7. $ for Hate Crime Prosecution N  8. Overseas Military Abortions N  9. Bar Coop. with Intl. Court Y 10. Trade Promotion Authority Y 11. Authorize Force in Iraq Y 12. Homeland Sec. Dept. Union N

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2000 general	George Allen (R)	1,420,460	52%	$9,995,980
	Charles S. Robb (D)	1,296,093	48%	$6,610,252
2000 primary	George Allen (R)	unopposed
1994 general	Charles S. Robb (D)	938,376	46%	$5,501,697
	Oliver L. (Ollie) North (R)	882,213	43%	$20,607,367
	J. Marshall Coleman (I)	235,324	11%	$813,409
Prior winning percentages: 1991 House (62%)