JAMIE RADTKE
WHY YOU KNOW HER: Virginia Tea Party Patriots
WHAT'S NEW: She may run for U.S. Senate.
A recent image of Jamie Radtke: The 36-year-old Chesterfield County resident, bullhorn in hand, addressing fellow Virginia tea-party activists at an "audit-the-Fed" rally outside the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Radtke is still sounding off — about, among other issues, runaway federal spending, the spiraling deficit and health-care overhaul — but she's taking soundings as well on a possible bid in 2012 for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.
"People are looking for fresh blood and new ideas," said Radtke, an organizer of a statewide convention of tea-party groups in October that drew an estimated 2,800 people to the Greater Richmond Convention Center.
"They're not looking for career politicians because they're the people who got us into this mess."
Should Radtke make the race — the GOP nomination will be decided in an open-to-all primary — she would likely face a household name: George Allen, who is angling to snatch back the Senate seat he narrowly lost in 2006 to Democrat Jim Webb.
But Radtke also might enter a crowded field, perhaps handing an advantage to better known and presumably well-financed Allen, for whom she worked for less than a year as office manager during his 1994-98 governorship.
At least two others who share Radtke's tea-party credentials are considering running.
They are Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors and a nationally prominent critic of illegal immigration, and Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, among the General Assembly's leading conservatives and an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican Senate nomination in 2008.
Following midterm elections in which tea-party voters helped topple three of Virginia's Democratic congressmen, Radtke signaled that she might challenge her state senator, John Watkins of Powhatan, next year.
Watkins and Allen are viewed with suspicion within tea-party circles: Watkins, because he supported higher taxes; and Allen, because he backed big deficits and an unpaid-for Medicare drug benefit for seniors.
Raising her sights on Washington rather than Richmond, Radtke is traveling the state, gauging support. Other signs that she's serious about a Senate candidacy: Radtke stepped down as chairwoman of the Virginia Tea Party Patriots and expects to set up a fundraising apparatus.
"So far, the response has been overwhelmingly positive," Radtke said.
Jeff E. Schapiro
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