When Virginia was down to a handful of precincts (and with Allen slightly ahead), CNN finally got wind of which ones weren't counted, and the bulk of the votes were coming out of Richmond. That was where I said "Gee, I wonder how well Allen will do in a heavily African-American district after MacacaGate, his collection of Confederate memorabilia, and his 'colorful' nicknames for classmates of color in college?"

It wasn't helped by the fact that he claimed he didn't know what 'macaca' meant-- it's a Tunisian racial slur roughly meaning 'monkey' (from 'macacque') and exclusively applied to dark-skinned people, and George Allen just happened to grow up in a household with a Tunisian mother. Even The One Republican Scientist Left (she works down the hall) didn't buy that he didn't know what he was saying multiple times, directed at virtually the only non-Caucasian in the room.

If Allen ends up losing, that's what did him in. This is a guy who was considered a frontrunner for President in 2008 roughly a year ago, and man, did he self-destruct.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com