"The Strangest Senate Race of the Year"

"The strangest Senate race of the year" is how the October 30th issue of The New Yorker describes the Virginia contest pitting incumbent Sen. George Allen against former Secretary of the Navy James Webb.

In an article entitled "Southern Discomfort," journalist Peter Boyer recaps the twists and turn by which Webb, a political novice, became a serious rival for a Senate seat held by a conservative incumbent with presidential aspirations. Boyer argues that the competitiveness of the race owes less to Webb's political skills than to a shift in Virginia's political climate and Allen's own mistakes.

What makes Boyer's piece particularly interesting is his extended discussion of Webb's political evolution. A native Southerner and decorated military veteran, Webb moved from the Democratic Party to the GOP in response to his experiences in Vietnam and the anti-war, anti-Southern turn of the Democratic Party. Yet the war in Iraq caused Webb to reevaluate his beliefs and gravitate back towards the Democratic Party. In many ways, Webb's political evolution mirrors the South's and offers lessons on how progressives can reconnect with the region's voters.