Candidate Wants to Talk Issues Instead of Character ... And He's a Republican

Now here's something you don't see every day.

From Tuesday's Washington Post:

U.S. Sen. George Allen tried to revive his embattled reelection campaign last night with an unusual paid appeal on television asking voters to focus on issues instead of the character questions that have dramatically tightened the race.

A prime criticism of Democrats in recent years has been their inability to move beyond programatic responses while Republicans hammer them on more ephemeral -- but effective -- issues that involve character and values. Something might be going on down here in the commonwealth.