Allen's Battery

Headline from CNN: Senator Won't Scold Backers for Tackling Heckler. The Senator refers to George Allen of Virginia.

Sometimes, you read these stories and you realize that the whole story about "hitting" or "attack" is wildly overblown. Here, it's not. This was assault, plain and simple.

If Allen loses this race, it will be because he didn't learn from Jerry Kilgore's mistake in 2005: In Virginia, there is a limit to how low you can go before the voters turn on you. Refusing to condemn assault and battery is one. Accusing your opponent of pedophilia is another. Webb seems to have the late momentum, and maybe Allen's fate will send a message to similar-minded GOP politicians with dreams of the gutter.