George Allen (R)	52%
Chuck Robb (D)	48%

Race Recap:

The environment played a major role in VirginiaÆs Senate race between former Governor George Allen (R) and Senator Chuck Robb (D), sparking crucial debate about traffic congestion, toxic waste clean up, and clean water and air quality standards.  LCV aggressively worked to expose AllenÆs poor environmental record and failure to enforce clean water laws as Governor of Virginia and as a Congressman.  Allen scored a dismal 13 percent lifetime environmental rating on LCVÆs National Environmental Scorecard.  LCV had endorsed Senator Robb LCV who consistently worked to protect clean air and water laws, earning a lifetime LCV score of 76 percent, and a score of 86 percent in 2000.

Key Polling Results:

LCV, working with Greenberg Quinlan Research, Inc., surveyed likely voters in Virginia from July 21-26, and again from Nov. 5-6, to determine the salience of environmental issues in this region. 

• When it came to hot-button issues, Virginians responded that their concern about clean air and water issues ranked on par with healthcare and Medicare and Social Security, rating right below education and crime and drugs.  Forty-nine percent of Virginia voters cited clean water as their top-tier environmental concern and 40 percent cited clean air as a top concern.
  
  
• LCVÆs poll also found that 60 percent of voters had serious doubts about Allen after being informed that Virginia corporations dumped more toxic chemicals into the air and water than two-thirds of all other states under his administration.  Sixty-five percent and voters also expressed serious doubts about Allen due to his efforts to block the clean up of one of the worst toxic waste sites in the nation on Tidewater Community CollegeÆs campus in Suffolk.
  
  
• Virginia respondents rated AllenÆs negative stance on toxic clean up as the second most forceful reason to vote against Allen.  RobbÆs environmental record and endorsement was the highest reason to vote for him in this race.

Dirty Dozen Campaign Activities:

Total Budget:  $520,000.  George Allen was named to the Dirty Dozen on June 21, 2000 at a Washington, DC press conference.

Paid media:  LCV launched two television ads on October 18, resulting in 3175 gross rating points.  The first ad, which ran in Norfolk, Richmond and Northern Virginia, exposed AllenÆs work to block the cleanup of one of the nationÆs worst Superfund sites, highlighting Tidewater Community CollegeÆs Portsmouth campus which has the one of the worst sites in the nation.  The second ad outlined AllenÆs lax enforcement of clean air and water laws and his record of allowing polluters to dump more toxics into VirginiaÆs air and water than 34 other states.  This ad ran in the Norfolk and Northern Virginia media markets. 

Earned media:  A full-time campaign manager and field director were hired to steer the earned media efforts throughout the state.  A rapid response system, letters to the editor, and a variety of events catapulted the environmental message into the Senate campaigns discourse.  On the anniversary of the Clean Water Act, LCV held an event in Alexandria to commemorate the pioneering bill and to condemn AllenÆs record of attempting to circumvent the Act.  A second event centered around AllenÆs efforts to block the clean up of the toxic waste site on Tidewater Community CollegeÆs campus, considered one the nationÆs dirtiest toxic waste sites.  LCV successfully brought the environment to the forefront of the issues this election year with the Dirty Dozen campaign against Allen û two Washington Post editorials listed AllenÆs poor environmental record as one of the major reasons to vote against him in this Senate race.