...or are huggable politicians becoming harder to find.

You may like and admire certain Democrats or Republicans. You may approve of their policies, you may even admire the men and women who stand tall in the face of adversity but, let's face it, how many would you like to rush up and hug? Most of them would have frightened Steve Erwin.

Hillary? I think not. Dick Cheney? You'd get frostbite. Don Rumsfeld? Agggggh! George W.? There's not enough substance to hug. McCain? Maybe. Powell? For sure.

The reason for this exercise in affection is that I have found a man running for office that, all of you would love to run up and throw your arms around. His name is James H. Webb, Jr. and he's running for the Senate in Virginia. He is running as a Democrat but, before you Republicans reflexively withhold your love, hear me out.

Unless you are a political geek, you may not be getting daily briefings on the race for the Senate in Virginia. The basics are; Webb is running against the incumbent, George Allen. Allen is the son of the famous football coach of the same name. The details of the race are available anywhere and I won't bore you with them here.

The appealing thing about Jim Webb is that he appears to be slightly embarrassed by the entire political process. Imagine that? Although he has a resume that would make any candidate drool, Webb doesn't like to talk about himself. ( In case you missed that or, assumed that it was a typo, I'll say it again, Webb is a politician that doesn't like to talk about himself.) Do you want to hug him yet? OK. Here's more.

It's unfortunate that Webb is so shy because he has a lot to talk about. Highlights include:

Naval Academy graduate

Service with the Marines in Vietnam. Awarded (are you ready swift-boaters?) The Navy
Cross, the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars and, two purple hearts. WOW!

Georgetown Law

Secretary of the Navy under Ronald Reagan. Quit rather than agree to the reduction of Naval forces commensurate with a budget cut.

Six Best selling books (that's wrote not read)

and, last but hardly least,

He has a son serving as a Marine Lance Corporal currently in Iraq.

This guy is a Republican dream, so why is he running as a Democrat? Most of it has to do with the war in Iraq. He feels (as do an increasing number of thinking Americans) that the Bush people have, incorrectly and unwisely, linked the war on terror to the invasion of Iraq.

That's OK but the real huggable part is in his delivery. He actually seems a little put off when forced to talk about his accomplishments and qualifications. It's a slightly mumbled, aw shucks style that no political consultant would ever condone. Discussion of his son's military service is off limits. He was even quoted during a debate in Northern Virginia recently as stating, (my hand to God!) that winning the job as Senator, "won't rate very high on my agenda". Go figure?

It gets better. At a recent campaign stop, he and his wife were introduced to the crowd by (you can't make this stuff up) his ex-wife. Any man who can negotiate that truce is a guy I want at the peace table. His driver is a platoon mate from Nam who lost an arm in the war.

The disciples of Karl Rove have made it their mission to uncover any possible mud to throw on Democrats in 2006. (This may be the only campaign promise that these guys have ever delivered on.) They didn't have to go far to smear Jim Webb. In 1979 Webb wrote a magazine article stating, among other things, that women should not be allowed in combat. The gist is that if women must serve in the military, they should stay as far away from the feba (forward edge of the battle area) as possible.

There is hardly any way around this steaming pile of bilge. True, it was 27 years ago. (You remember 1979; Saddam Hussein was just coming to power and Don Rumsfeld was first in line to kiss his ass.) Nevertheless, Webb has had to learn the, "that was then, this is now", political two-step to explain the unexplainable. We'll have to wait until Nov. to see how that worked out for him.

Virginia is one of those bi-polar states that is changing the political landscape of America today. However, unlike New York, Pennsylvania, and other states where urban centers compete with rural hinterlands, Virginia has one foot in the South and the other in suburbia. The well educated populations of Fairfax and Loudoun Counties of Northern Virginia as well as new citizens in Richmond have put Virginia in-play as a battleground state. If you have a red neck in Virginia there's a good chance you got it at the golf course.

The race for senator between Webb and Allen is a dead heat at this moment. Voters in Virginia, as well as many other parts of America will, hopefully send a clear message about how they feel the country is being run. Every PTA member can tell you that nothing brings parent participation like a badly run school. However, regardless of the marks that Americans award George W. and his congressional class in the upcoming grading period, I encourage you to journey to Virginia and physically embrace the Democratic candidate for Senator. After all, Virginia is for Lovers!