As Virginia goes, so goes the U.S. Senate.
At least that’s the pitch George Allen is making to voters.
During an interview Friday on Fox News, the former Republican governor and current U.S. Senate candidate told anchor Martha MacCallum that “Virginia is going to be in the eye of the political storm” in 2012 because of how the state has voted in recent years. After President Obama scored a historic victory in Virginia in 2008, an overwhelming number of the state’s voters elected Republican Bob McDonnell to the governor’s mansion just 12 months later.
“Whomever wins this Senate race in Virginia I think will have that party controlling the U.S. Senate,” Allen said.
Democrats, along with the two independents who caucus with them, hold a 53-47 majority in the upper chamber. Allen is trying to win back the Senate seat he lost to Sen. Jim Webb in 2006. Webb is retiring.
Allen announced his campaign raised roughly $900,000 in the last three months, less than the $1.1 million he took in from April to June. Allen is likely to face Democrat Tim Kaine, also a former governor, in the 2012 election.
