Senator's Supporters Push, Tackle Protester
Video Shows Man Knocked To Ground
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- A protester who shouted questions at Virginia Sen. George Allen was pushed to the floor during Allen's campaign appearance Tuesday at a Charlottesville hotel.
Allen held a campaign event there Tuesday morning with North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole.
CNN showed video of the confrontation. The video showed the protester trying to get Allen's attention and asking the Republican incumbent about his first wife.
"Why did you spit at your first wife, George?" the man asked.
Allen declined to answer the question.
On the video, three men, all wearing blue Allen lapel stickers, immediately grabbed the man, dragged him backward and slung him to the carpet outside a hotel meeting room. The video showed one man tackle him. The men are presumed to be staffers, according to Charlottesville TV station WVIR.
The man who tackled the protester said, "Now you're getting personal."
The protester answered by saying he hadn't touched anybody.
WVIR reported that afterward, a reporter asked Allen what he thought of the incident and Allen said, "Stuff like that happens."
The Daily Progress identified the protester as Mike Stark, a first-year law student at the University of Virginia. The paper reported that Stark has his own blog and has confronted Allen at previous campaign events.
Stark reportedly described the behavior as "Roger and Me," after filmmaker Michael Moore's movie documenting his pursuit of GM CEO Roger Smith over downsizing in the auto industry.
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