Bob Gibson
Daily Progress political blogger

    Former Sen. and Gov. George Allen, R-Fairfax County, went to Florida for the YouTube presidential debate and later told CNN that his presidential candidate, Fred Thompson, “stood far above all of ‘em” when it came to stands on issues that Republicans care about, such as illegal immigration.

    “The point is Fred is a consistent conservative,“ Allen told CNN’s Wolf Blizter in a CNN video clip that Allen posted Friday afternoon on his own blog: http://www.georgeallen.com/2007/11/30/george-allen-internet-is-good-for-democracy-cnn-political-ticker/.
   
    “He’s proud of his record,“ Allen told Blitzer in a nearly 7-minute interview in which he plugged away for Thompson. “Others may have to bob and weave and dodge and try to distort their past records, or run away from their records ... Fred Thompson is the man you can trust.“

    When Blitzer asked Allen if he will run again in Virginia, the co-chairman of Thompson’s campaign hardly said no.

    “Susan and I haven’t decided whether we’ll run again or not,“ Allen replied, then noted they are getting plenty of encouragement. Blitzer closed by noting: “Doesn’t sound like a no to me.“

    Allen made sure that the CNN piece was posted on his blog, where some Republicans might be more likely to find it than on CNN.

Bob Gibson
Daily Progress political blogger

    To vote in the Republican Party’s presidential primary on Feb. 12, a registered Virginia voter simply must swallow a little poi, or “pledge of intent.“

  “I, the undersigned, pledge that I intend to support the nominee of the Republican Party for President” is the poi, which is not exactly a loyalty oath but may deter independents and others from venturing into the GOP booth that day.

    Primary turnouts, which have been small enough of late, may shrink a bit but that may be the intent of the poi—a taro root concoction mixed with water and “slightly fermented.“ Those who take it are pure, not the merely interested or slightly intrigued.

    The GOP can’t be entirely serious about keeping Democrats out of their Feb. 12 primary as a sole reason for taking the poi as the Dems have their own large field of presidential hopefuls to entice them into a pledgeless primary in which Barack Obama stands a good chance of edging out Hillary Clinton.

    The poi may be the next step in killing Virginia’s open primaries—those elections run by the state but only of enough interest to drag out party activists to vote in contests that non-party potential voters greet with large yawns.

    The GOP deserves credit for finding a way to ensure party primary purity with a poi designed not to appeal to the hoi polloi.

Bob Gibson
Daily Progress political blogger

    Republicans are having all the fun these days of having a wide-open presidential nomination contest—OK, guys named Tom and Duncan are likely to drop soon but they still have a Mitt, a Fred, a Rudy, a Ron, a Mike and a John—and now folks are lining up to take on Jim Gilmore.
   
    Jim, the first to drop from the presidential lineup, is by far the front-runner for the right be become the serious underdog to Democrat Mark Warner, another former governor looking for a 2008 Senate seat.

    Now a Chris and a Bob are looking seriously at getting in with Jim for a convention battle to see who gets to take on MarkNotJohn.

    Chris Saxman, a delegate from Staunton, is little-known outside of GOP circles but has few of the negatives people might attach to Jim Gilmore if they recall the split he helped engineer between Senate and House Republicans during his governorship.

    Bob Marshall, a veteran delegate from Prince William County, is better known as perhaps a truer conservative than mighty conservative Gilmore. Marshall is also mulling a Senate bid and notes that Gilmore is not held in high esteem by conservatives for saying he would allow abortions during a woman’s first trimester.

  “I’m just looking around,“ Marshall said the other day. “I like Jim. I’ve worked with him, but his hands-off first trimester abortions, that’s not going to enthuse anyone.“

  “Is it possible for me to do this? I think so,“ Marshall said.

    Is Gilmore a pure enough conservative for party activists? That question will be knocked around Friday night and Saturday at the GOP’s Advance in Arlington. There’s nothing like a little competition to keep a party kickin.