Susan Allen Visits The Hills

Susan Allen, wife of U.S. Senate candidate George Allen, made a visit to the Beverley Hills neighborhood of Alexandria on Friday morning for a “Politics on the Porch” event in support of her husband’s campaign.

Event hosts Meghan Rainey and Mollie Calhoun welcomed about a dozen women from Northern Virginia to Rainey’s home for coffee, light breakfast and an informal political chat.

“Instead of going door to door, this is way we can just hit one and reach people,” Allen said. “Women generally can get together quickly. … [These events] give them an opportunity to voice the issues that are on the top of their minds.”

Allen spoke of her experiences campaigning “in every corner of the state” and meeting people who are worried about the economy, frustrated with what’s going on in Washington and concerned about their children’s future.

In her remarks, Allen put a particular emphasis on energy policy. She admitted it wasn’t a “sexy” issue, but that it is at the forefront of her husband’s campaign.

She said it was important to open up the country’s energy resources to end foreign dependency and create jobs for Americans.

“We need an energy policy to propel us and not limit us,” Allen said, mentioning that offshore drilling and tapping into coal resources are top priorities.

She also spoke of a need to decrease environmental regulations to reach resources and keep American manufacturing plants open.

She mentioned a General Electric light bulb factory in Winchester that closed in September because of conservation measures passed by Congress in 2007 that will more or less ban regular incandescent bulbs by 2014. About 200 plant workers lost their jobs.

Rainey and Calhoun met with Allen at an event for the Republican Commonwealth Women’s Club earlier this year when the “Politics on the Porch” event was brought up.

“Mrs. Allen really wanted to start this series of very informal chats,” Rainey said. “I told her Molly and I would love to host one.”

Allen said the campaign is going "great" and that with 12 months before the General Election she looks forward to participating in many more of these events.