So I just had a longer interview with Mike Stark, the man who was thrown to the ground today by staffers for Senator George Allen for asking their boss a couple of questions. He said he was acting out of frustration that the media is refusing to press Allen for answers about his two unexplained appearances in court records in the seventies and his refusal to unseal his divorce records. And while the Allen campaign today attacked Stark for "screaming" and "pushing" an Allen staffer, Stark claimed that the first physical contact was initiated by Allen staffers. More from Stark after the jump.
Today the Allen campaign sent out a press release slamming Stark for "screaming" at Allen, and charging that "Stark has a history of violent outbursts." The Allen release also noted that Stark's blog, "Calling all Wingnuts," is subtitled "Kickin' ass on the lyin' side: A never-ending battle against stupid, ugly, deceitful and corrupt right-wing water carriers." The Allen release charged that Stark "pushed" an Allen staffer.
But Stark claimed that the altercation was initiated entirely by the Allen staffers. He says the first physical behavior came after he approached Allen, and, standing a few feet away, asked Allen a question about the court records. At this point, he claims, Allen's staffers started pushing and shoving him.
Stark says that at this point, all he did was "stand my ground," without retaliating. "I didn't obey their physical coersion" is how he describes what he did. "I never raised my hands...They were actually physically pushing me away when I shouted to him, `is it true that you spat on your wife'? That's when they said, `now you're getting personal' and tackled me."
Stark described what he did as a legit effort to engage his elected representative. "I got involved in the civic process," Stark said. "This Senator, true to form, had his people bully me. And this time it got physical."
So did Stark heckle Allen? That's what the Washington Post reported in its news coverage of the scuffle. The paper called Stark a "heckler."
"Not once have I heckled him," Stark said. "Hecklers interrupt speeches. I waited till he was done. I wait respectfully until the end of his speeches."
Stark, who says he moved to Virginia to go to University of Virginia law school and intends to live there for three years, has confronted Allen in the past, particularly over his racially-charged remarks. He says he started confronting Allen because he felt the press wasn't pressing Allen hard enough on various questions, most recently on the court records and on rumors about what's in his divorce file.
Stark compared this media reticence with the constant media chatter about Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky before all the facts were known. "Everybody was talking about that on all the news when that was a rumor," he says. "Why aren't they talking about these rumors?"
So that's where we are now.
A mid-term re-election campaign rally held Tuesday morning by Virginia Senator George Allen at the Charlottesville Omni Hotel turned ugly after a University of Virginia law student, Daily Kos contributor and blogger, Mike Stark, was man-handled by Allen staffers in the hotel lobby after he asked the Senator about his 1970's divorce and arrest record.

Three Allen campaign staffers wrestled Stark to the ground, ending what ''Friends of George Allen'' said in a press release were "inappropriate questions" by Stark. Allen was approached by Stark as he tried to exit the conference room following his speech at "a well attended event". Stark is accused by the Allen campaign of stalking Allen, by ''The Washington Post'' of heckling him, and by Stark's own admission on his blog page of doing something that "got the adrenaline flowing".

Stark said he attempted to "stand my ground" after his question about Allen's sealed divorce records was met by pushing and shoving by Allen staffers, according to an interview by blogger Greg Sargent.
   
"I never raised my hands...They were actually physically pushing me away when I shouted to him, 'is it true that you spat on your wife'? That's when they said, 'now you're getting personal' and tackled me."
 
The slim polling lead once held by the Republican incumbent Allen has for the first time shifted to Webb, who now leads by a 50 – 46% margin, where the 4-point spread is within the 'margin of error percentage' of those surveyed by the Opinion Research Corporation.