Ah ha! According to Google News, the Washington Post and New York Times aren’t alone in putting the anti-lynching resolution in the context of George Allen’s ugly history on racial issues — here’s the report from the Richmond Times-Dispatch, one of Allen’s home state papers:

An Allen presidential campaign could spotlight the apology resolution if controversial parts of his record on race were targeted.

When he ran for the Senate in 2000, foes accused Allen of insensitivity to blacks. Newspaper stories reported he had displayed a noose in his former law office and had kept a Confederate flag in his home in Albemarle County.

When the Senate apology measure was introduced, Allen was quizzed by a CNN interviewer about his record, including his having promoted a Confederate history and heritage month when he was governor.

“One goes through life learning, and when one sees things that are wrong in the past and folks come to request my assistance, I wanted to help them,” he replied, referring to the apology measure.

Allen said last year that he no longer displays the Confederate flag and that he is a flag collector. An Allen aide said then that the noose was part of a law-and-order motif for Allen’s former law office, and it had nothing to do with racial issues.

What this leaves out, however, is Allen’s dissembling in February about the noose, which he called “more of a lasso” — the “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is” of his image cleanup campaign.