Virginia Senator George Allen is making plans for a rough and tumble re-election in ’06.
Taking no chances in girding for a re-election bid, Sen. George Allen picked as his campaign manager a veteran of three tough Senate races this year.
Jason Miller managed the campaign of Republican Jack Ryan of Illinois, who quit amid allegations of sex-club visits, and was a top consultant to the campaigns of Mel Martinez in Florida and Tom Coburn in Oklahoma.
Miller is “an experienced professional who knows how to mobilize supporters and reach out to new voters to create winning coalitions,” Allen, R-Va., said in an announcement yesterday.
Yet the person who really will run Allen’s re-election campaign, added analyst Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia, will be Dick Wadhams. He will join Allen’s Senate office next month as chief of staff.
Wadhams managed Republican John Thune’s campaign that unseated Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota last month.
The hiring of Wadhams “was a double signal, to Warner and to [Senate Majority Leader Bill] Frist and other candidates for president, that Allen’s going to play hardball,” Sabato said. “You hire Wadhams when you’re going to tear your opponent’s guts out.”