They're Back: George Allen Wins Virginia Republican Senate Primary, Faces Tim Kaine In November

They're back.

Former Virginia Senator George Allen won the Virginia Republican Senate primary Tuesday night and will face former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine in a November contest to fill retiring Senator James Webb's (D-Va.) seat.

Allen won 65 percent of the vote, the Associated Press reported, according to the New York Times.

He defeated a group of opponents who, combined, sound like the setup for an off-color joke: a state legislator, a tea party leader and a minister, the Times reported.

Allen himself courted ridicule after he shouted what many considered a racial insult at one of his opponent's staffers during his 2006 Senate reelection campaign. The incident was initially posted on YouTube and soon went viral. It cost him his re-election bid and any hope for winning the race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, for which many thought he was a contender.

In the incident, Allen called the staffer, an Indian-American man who was videotaping one of Allen's campaign appearances, a Macaca, which means monkey in numerous languages, the Washington Post reported.

Allen and Kaine are polling neck and neck, the Post reported, in what will likely shape up to be a close race.

Webb, the Democratic Senator who is vacating the seat, joins at least two other moderate Senators who are stepping down, the Times said, including Olympia Snowe (R.-Maine) and Kent Conrad (R.-North Dakota), in a possible trend of moderates giving way to fierce partisans in the once-staid Senate.