FLOYD -- The crowd jammed into the Floyd Country Store and spilled out onto the sidewalk Thursday afternoon to see a U.S. Senate candidate and popular former governor.

Republican George Allen twice carried Floyd County by wide margins to win elections for governor and the Senate. But it was Democrat James Webb and former Gov. Mark Warner who drew a lunchtime throng to downtown Floyd for ham biscuits, bluegrass music and spirited stump speeches just 12 days before the election.

"It's a real motivator to see this many people come out and say hello to us," said Webb, a normally stoic candidate who seemed to feed off the excitement of the crowd that greeted him and Warner on Thursday.

Webb and Warner campaigned together in Bristol, Floyd and Harrisonburg, trying to build support in areas that have been Republican strongholds in recent elections. Webb's campaign played up Floyd's and Bristol's connection to The Crooked Road, the Virginia music heritage trail project that blossomed during Warner's term as governor.

"This is such a special place," said Warner, who drew a similarly large crowd last year when he held a town hall-style meeting at the Floyd Country Store.

Webb, who has family ties to Southwest Virginia, told the crowd that Thursday's visit was not his first to Floyd. But, tugging at the lapel of his suit jacket, he said: "It's my first time dressed like this in Floyd."

Webb briefly covered some fundamental components of his campaign platform -- his opposition to the war in Iraq and the Bush administration's approach to the war on terrorism; and his desire to reduce widening disparities between the wealthy and working classes.

He also accused Allen and a national Republican organization of distorting his positions on same-sex marriage and taxes in radio and television ads. Webb blasted a National Republican Senatorial Committee television ad suggesting he wants widespread tax increases, saying: "I have never proposed raising a tax on a working person in this country. Not once."

Webb said he supports closing tax loopholes for certain corporations "and just get them to pay their fair share."

Webb also took issue with an Allen campaign radio ad that suggests he supports gay marriage. Webb opposes a state constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriages and civil unions, agreeing with other prominent Democrats that the proposal reaches beyond marriage to affect other legal relationships between unmarried individuals.

But, Webb said, "I am a Christian and, in my faith, marriage is between a man and a woman."

"I do not object to the Allen campaign attacking me for my political beliefs," Webb said. "But I do object to them attempting to attack my religious faith."

Even though Allen won 63 percent of the Floyd County vote in his 1993 gubernatorial election and his 2000 Senate campaign, Webb said he will concede none of Southwest Virginia to his rival.

"This is a key part of what we need to accomplish to win, to carry as much of the vote as we can down here," Webb said.

Webb supporters who crowded into the store cited a variety of reasons for backing the Democrat. Ann Jones of Floyd County said she is alarmed by the widening gap between the "super-rich" and the middle class and praised Webb for taking on the issue.

"I'm just concerned that our country is totally wrong in all that it's doing," Jones said.

Floyd resident Bill Clarkson, a retired psychiatrist, complained that the U.S. is "borrowing money from China and throwing it down a rathole in Iraq."

"I'm old enough to remember World War II and I'm more worried about this country now than I was in World War II," Clarkson said as he waited for Webb to arrive.

Warner later hit on the same note as he introduced Webb, saying: "I'm 51 years old. I can't think of a time in my life when our nation has faced more enormous problems simultaneously than right now."

Warner recently announced that he will not run for president in 2008, but has insisted he will remain active politically. This week the Webb campaign began airing a television commercial featuring Warner.

Warner and former state Sen. Madison Marye of Shawsville warmed up the crowd for Webb. Marye spun tales of his fabled "Uncle Billy" and mocked Allen's fondness for cowboy attire and snuff.

"We have over here in Jim Webb the real article," Marye said.