Fans Flock to See Allen at Convention

ST. PAUL -- George Allen, former governor and senator, arrived at the Republican National Convention late Tuesday in time to sit with the Virginia delegation and hear the first night of speakers including former senator Fred Thompson and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.

Allen, who is serving as a delegate, was mobbed by fans wanting to talk to him or have their photos taken with him.

One man of Indian decent from the nearby Nevada delegation even joked that his name was "macaca" when Allen asked him. Allen took it all in stride and seemed to enjoy himself.

Allen, who many had expected to run for president this year until he lost his re-election bid in 2006, raved about his former colleague, Sen. John McCain, and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. "She's gotten a lot of people really excited."

Allen said convention-goers were more energetic this year than in 2004, when the event took place in New York three years after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and with an incumbent nominee.

Allen and his wife, Susan, came to the convention a couple of days later than most other Virginians because they were attending the funeral of Gene Upshaw, a football player for the Oakland Raiders and executive director of the National Football League Players' Association.