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Allen Supporters Tackle Heckler at Event
Allen Supporters Tackle Heckler at Event
By BOB LEWIS
AP
RICHMOND, Va. (Nov. 1) - A heckler who confronted Sen. George Allen at a campaign appearance Tuesday was put in a chokehold and slammed to the floor by three of the Republican's supporters in an incident captured on video.
Mike Stark, a liberal blogger and first-year University of Virginia law student, approached Allen at an event in Charlottesville, loudly asking, "Why did you spit at your first wife, George?" according to witnesses.
Three men, all wearing blue Allen lapel stickers, immediately grabbed Stark, dragged him backward and slung him to the carpet outside a hotel meeting room, according to video captured by WVIR-TV in Charlottesville.
Allen's campaign said in a news release that Stark "aggressively went after Senator Allen ... screaming that he answer inappropriate questions."
It also said Stark pushed an Allen staffer. "Later, volunteers restrained him (Stark) and asked (him) to leave the building when he approached the Senator a second time, asking inappropriate questions." Stark said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press: "I am a constituent. I am allowed to ask my U.S. senator questions."
Stark said he approached Allen at the same time as reporters after the senator's speech and first asked about two court summonses issued for Allen in Albemarle County in 1974. A county court index book reflects that they were issued, but the supporting documents were destroyed long ago.
Allen has said the two offenses were for fishing without a license and too many unpaid parking tickets.
Allen's former wife, Anne Waddell, issued a statement calling Stark's question "a baseless, cheap shot."
Waddell, who lives in California, said she and Allen divorced more than 22 years ago, and because it was a personal matter they sealed the divorce records.
A new statewide poll conducted for CNN showed Allen's Democratic challenger, former Navy Secretary Jim Webb, with a slight lead in a bitterly contested race that could help determine whether the GOP retains control of the Senate.
In a Monday posting on "Calling All Wingnuts," the blog Stark publishes, he hinted that he would attempt to provoke Allen before the TV cameras.
"Im also trying to `Roger and Me' George Allen whenever I can," Stark wrote, referring to director Michael Moore's 1989 documentary in which he repeatedly tried to confront former General Motors' chief executive Roger Smith about the company's downsizing.
In August, Stark similarly approached Allen after a speech at a hotel near Staunton, loudly asking if he had ever used a common six-letter epithet against blacks.
That was two weeks after Allen, at a rally, referred to a Webb volunteer of Indian descent as "Macaca," which is considered by some to be a racial slur.
FUCKIN REPUKES
By BOB LEWIS
AP
RICHMOND, Va. (Nov. 1) - A heckler who confronted Sen. George Allen at a campaign appearance Tuesday was put in a chokehold and slammed to the floor by three of the Republican's supporters in an incident captured on video.
Mike Stark, a liberal blogger and first-year University of Virginia law student, approached Allen at an event in Charlottesville, loudly asking, "Why did you spit at your first wife, George?" according to witnesses.
Three men, all wearing blue Allen lapel stickers, immediately grabbed Stark, dragged him backward and slung him to the carpet outside a hotel meeting room, according to video captured by WVIR-TV in Charlottesville.
Allen's campaign said in a news release that Stark "aggressively went after Senator Allen ... screaming that he answer inappropriate questions."
It also said Stark pushed an Allen staffer. "Later, volunteers restrained him (Stark) and asked (him) to leave the building when he approached the Senator a second time, asking inappropriate questions." Stark said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press: "I am a constituent. I am allowed to ask my U.S. senator questions."
Stark said he approached Allen at the same time as reporters after the senator's speech and first asked about two court summonses issued for Allen in Albemarle County in 1974. A county court index book reflects that they were issued, but the supporting documents were destroyed long ago.
Allen has said the two offenses were for fishing without a license and too many unpaid parking tickets.
Allen's former wife, Anne Waddell, issued a statement calling Stark's question "a baseless, cheap shot."
Waddell, who lives in California, said she and Allen divorced more than 22 years ago, and because it was a personal matter they sealed the divorce records.
A new statewide poll conducted for CNN showed Allen's Democratic challenger, former Navy Secretary Jim Webb, with a slight lead in a bitterly contested race that could help determine whether the GOP retains control of the Senate.
In a Monday posting on "Calling All Wingnuts," the blog Stark publishes, he hinted that he would attempt to provoke Allen before the TV cameras.
"Im also trying to `Roger and Me' George Allen whenever I can," Stark wrote, referring to director Michael Moore's 1989 documentary in which he repeatedly tried to confront former General Motors' chief executive Roger Smith about the company's downsizing.
In August, Stark similarly approached Allen after a speech at a hotel near Staunton, loudly asking if he had ever used a common six-letter epithet against blacks.
That was two weeks after Allen, at a rally, referred to a Webb volunteer of Indian descent as "Macaca," which is considered by some to be a racial slur.
FUCKIN REPUKES
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