Former Reagan aide, ex-lobbyist vie for Va.'s US Senate

RICHMOND, Va. -- Republican-turned-Democrat James Webb, a former Reagan administration Navy secretary, is seeking the nomination for Senate today in a bruising primary battle against a Democratic Party stalwart.

Five states have elections scheduled today, including primaries for governor in Maine and South Carolina; a Democratic runoff for the nomination for lieutenant governor in Arkansas; and referendums on constitutional amendments in North Dakota.

In Virginia, the winner of the race between Webb and Harris Miller, a former Internet industry lobbyist with three decades of activism in the Virginia Democratic Party, will face Republican Senator George Allen.

Allen is seeking a second term even as he pursues a 2008 presidential bid. He has no GOP challenger.

With turnout of about 5 percent of the state's 4.5 million registered voters expected, political analysts and campaign advisers said there is no way to predict a victor.

Webb and Miller sought to shackle Allen to President Bush, particularly on the Iraq war. Both Democrats have seized on Allen's record of voting with the president 97 percent of the time last year.

The liberal Miller appealed to core Democrats by advocating higher taxes on oil companies, blasting Bush's tax cuts and the failed estate tax repeal, and demanding Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's firing. Miller, 54, has also made an issue of Webb's tenure as Reagan's Navy secretary and Webb's endorsements of Allen and Bush in 2000.

Webb, 60, a decorated Vietnam veteran and best-selling author, broke with the GOP over the Iraq invasion, the federal debt approaching $9 trillion, and Bush economic policies that he says are bleeding the middle class. He campaigns in desert combat boots, calls himself ``Allen's worst nightmare" and says his candidacy beckons ``Reagan Democrats" to return home.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, in a rare preprimary endorsement, called Webb the party's best hope to win the seat, or at least force Allen to spend time and money on re-election instead of a White House bid.

In attacking Miller's labor record, Webb called Miller the ``anti-Christ of outsourcing." A Webb flier contained a caricature of Miller with a hooked nose and cash spilling from his pockets. Miller, who is Jewish, called the brochure ``despicable"; Webb said it was not anti-Semitic.

In South Carolina, Republican Governor Mark Sanford is expected to easily defeat political newcomer Dr. Oscar Lovelace for the nomination for another term. In the Democratic primary, state Senator Tommy Moore and Florence Mayor Frank Willis are the heavyweights.

The state's GOP primary for lieutenant governor was energized by news that incumbent Andre Bauer at least twice avoided speeding tickets -- once after he was caught going more than 100 mph. Bauer's leading opponent, Mike Campbell, is the son of Carroll Campbell, a popular former governor who had Alzheimer's disease and died in December.

In Maine, two little-known Democrats -- civil rights lawyer Eric Mehnert and organic farmer Jean Hay Bright -- contend for the chance to take on two-term Republican Senator Olympia Snowe. Snowe has no GOP challenger.

Maine has a three-way Republican primary for governor. State Senator Chandler Woodcock is a social and antitax conservative, state Senator Peter Mills is a moderate, and US Representative David Emery supported John McCain for president in 2000 and has had McCain campaign with him this year.

In a Democratic primary, little-known computer specialist Christopher Miller opposes Governor John Baldacci, who seeks a second term.

In Arkansas, a runoff will determine the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor. Neither Bill Halter, a former Clinton administration official, nor state Senator Tim Wooldridge got the required 50 percent of the vote in last month's four-way primary. The winner faces Republican state Senator Jim Holt this fall.

In North Dakota, voters consider two changes to the state Constitution. One would remove gender, age, and residency references in the Constitution's definition of state militia. The other would eliminate some regulations affecting corporations and railroads, and give the Legislature more authority to regulate how corporate shareholders vote for boards of directors.