Union super-PAC runs Web ads framing George Allen as a racist

Workers' Voice, a super-PAC backed by the AFL-CIO, is running Web ads targeted at minority voters that accuse former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) of racism.

The ads invoke four of Allen's past controversies: his now-infamous "macaca moment" in which he used a racial slur against a South Asian Democrat who was recording a campaign event, his vote against recognizing Martin Luther King Day and reports that he kept a noose in his office and hung a Confederate flag in his living room.

None of these issues is new, and the group is clearly trying to rekindle the discussion over Allen's past. Allen has profusely apologized time and again for the "macaca" incident and has discussed the other issues at length, both during his failed 2006 reelection campaign and this year.

Allen's campaign fired back against the ads.

"It is disappointing to see that Tim Kaine and his union allies would stoop to this level rather than talk about the very serious issues facing Virginia families and small businesses. George Allen has apologized and forthrightly addressed these old accusations, but when he is on the campaign trail he is hearing from Virginia families and small businesses concerned about skyrocketing fuel cost, burdensome regulations and increased taxes that are bringing uncertainty," said Allen spokeswoman Katie Wright. "It is ironic that the very labor unions leveling these attacks are the same ones that Tim Kaine worked so closely with as DNC chairman and stand in direct opposition to the right-to-work laws that give Virginia a crucial economic advantage in encouraging investment and attracting new jobs."

The Web ads are targeted at African-American and Latino voters in Northern Virginia and Richmond and are intended to boost minority turnout to help former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D), who is locked in a close race with Allen. The group has put $50,000 behind the Web campaign and is asking supporters to vote on which of the four they find most disagreeable.

Click here to see the ads.

The two are locked in a tight race, though Kaine has led Allen in most public polling. The Hill rates it a "toss-up."