Tea Party Frowns on Former Virginia Sen. George Allen

The tea party movement’s conservative wave that swept across the country in November may have sunk former Virginia Sen. George Allen’s hopes of a comeback, The Washington Post Reports. Some tea party activists are saying that Allen is not conservative enough, the Post reports.

"There are some concerns based on his record and his rhetoric,” Mark Kevin Lloyd, vice chairman of the statewide Virginia Tea Party Patriots Federation, told The Post. Those concerns include Allen’s backing for big-government programs such as No Child Left Behind and subsidizing prescription drug costs for those on Medicare. Allen also supported expanding the Hate Crimes Prevention Act to include crimes based on sexual orientation, the Post reported.

Allen was defeated in a 2006 reelection bid by Sen. James Webb, D-Va. Neither Allen nor Webb has announced intentions for 2012. Jo-Ann Chase, a member of the state Republican Party’s governing board who also is active with the Northern Virginia Tea Party, told The Post that she no longer could vote for Allen, explaining, "He's moderate. Maybe at the time he was the most conservative we had."

The 58-year-old Allen defended himself as a common-sense conservative leader. "Some of the things they are saying — it is laughable when you look at my record," Allen told The Post.