Well, the Salon.com story just broke into the main stream media. Bob Lewis, an AP reporter has this story:
Virginia senator denies ex-teammate's charge he used racial slur
Here's how it begins:
A former teammate of Sen. George Allen during his years as a University of Virginia football player said Allen frequently used a racial epithet to refer to black people.
Allen vehemently denied the allegation in an Associated Press interview Monday.
Another key part of the story:
Allen called Shelton's claim "ludicrously false."
"The story and his comments and assertions in there are completely false," Allen said during an interview with AP reporters and editors. "I don't remember ever using that word and it is absolutely false that that was ever part of my vocabulary."
Four other Allen teammates also defended Allen and rebutted Shelton's comments in statements Allen's campaign released.
This is very important that AP has done the story. That means that papers all around the country and around the world could pick up the story. It also means that George Allen is likely to be stuck in the macaca for a lot longer.
I would encourage you to watch your local papers over the next several days. Contact the reporters that you know, and suggest that they investigate and report on this controversy.
If your paper doesn't do a story within the next few days, then do a letter to the editor. And, if the paper does have a story, then consider doing a letter to the editor if the information is inaccurate or incomplete. And, if the paper has an online "Comment" feature, add your thoughts and analysis on the story.
[UPDATE1: See this important diary [http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/25/145225/712 Allen's teammate 'defenders': GOP operative, political appointment, corp benefactor...]
[UPDATE2: See another important diary [http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/25/141736/297 Frameshop: George Allen's "I Don't Remember" Defense]
[UPDATE3: Larry Sabato says on Hardball that Allen has used the "n- word," YouTube video here:]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIWnWAujvm4
[UPDATE4: New Allegations in a Ryan Lizza piece in The New Republic, here: http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=w060925&s=lizza092506