Surely, Sen. George Allen must find himself in a quandary these days. Statehouse Republicans could make things tricky for him as the go-to guy for national Republican re-election efforts in the U. S. Senate. He's got to be careful.

No, the issue is not whether to sell out what is in Virginia's best interest for personal political gain. That one is a forgone conclusion. How long do you think those deliberations took? Can you spell n-a-n-o-s-e-c-o-n-d?

The issue is alignment. Allen has to align himself with one or the other of the Republican factions here in Virginia.

Behind Door Nuo. 1 is the borrow-and-spend wing of the party, led by Atty. Gen. Jerry Kilgore. That's right. What's Kilgore's solution to some of these crushing needs we face in transportation, education, health care, law enforcement, and so on? Borrow another billion dollars. Increase the public debt. Load up the state credit card. What's another billion dollars of money we don't have?

Behind Door No. 2 is the tax-and-spend wing of the party, led by John Chichester and Emett Hanger in the Senate and Harry Parish, Jim Dillard and others in the House of Delegates. These are the moderates, the thinking branch of the Republican Party in Virginia, those for whom the concepts of duty and responsibility are not just civics book abstracts but have real meaning.

And behind Door No. 3 is House Speaker Bill Howell and his small band of glassy-eyed Flat Earthers. Put Kate Griffin, the party chairman, behind this door, too. They just want all this money stuff to go away so they can get on with matters of real Republican government: bills restricting personal liberties, abortion bills, flag bills, pledge of allegiance bills, license plate bills, gun bills, and bills increasing pollution of our land, air and water.

And there are other collateral considerations Allen must factor into his what's-best-for-me calculations. Among them:

>>Kilgore, the presumptive Republican nominee for governor two years hence, is just that. Presumptive. But not a lock. He has badly fumbled the eavesdropping thing-so badly that some observers think, depending on how things go, it could knock him out of the box. And you can believe this: it is no accident that Jim Gilmore is getting his shoes resoled and has sent his tuxedo to the cleaners. Just in case. Think about it. If Kilgore keeps stumbling, there is nobody else in the Republican batter's circle.

>>There is the Foundation for Virginia. Sounds innocent enough. What could be wrong with a nonpartisan group of business and political leaders joining hands in a pro-education dance around the maypole? Well, the whole thing has spooked the Speaker. But you've got to be careful about running off the business community.

>>Let's not forget the good governor. Warner's poll numbers are high and consistent. He's laid out a fair and credible proposal for tax reform -- and a budget to compliment it. He's got all that personal wealth. He might want to be a United States senator from Virginia.

Says Mark Rozell, chairman of the political science department at Catholic University in a Sunday Washington Post piece by Michael Shear: "Without a doubt the governor is setting up the issues for an election campaign."

You think that might keep Allen up at night, or what?

And then there is that startling observation made by Sen. Hanger in a Daily Press interview with Hugh Lessing. "I don't believe that the state Republican Party now is actually speaking for a majority of the incumbent members of the legislature," Hanger said.

How about it George? Does the state Republican Party speak for you? Or do the Republican members of the legislature? Does Howell? Does Kilgore? Does the chairman?

Lordhavemercy! This self-interest can get complicated, can't it? What to do? What to do?

Consider this for your next gift:
A 60,000 word collection of Barnie Day’s commentaries, entitled "A Mule Yule: Hey, Jesus didn’t ride in on an elephant," with an introduction by Jerry Baliles and forewords by Frosty Landon, Larry Sabato, Robert Holsworth,and Bill Wood, is available from the Democratic Party of Virginia. Contact Laura Bland, toll-free, at 1-800-322-1144

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