U.S. Sen. George Allen yesterday forcefully denied allegations that he used the n-word to describe black people while a football player at the University of Virginia more than 30 years ago.

The Republican denounced as "completely false" a report published Sunday in the online magazine Salon.com, which quotes three U.Va. teammates as saying Allen frequently used the inflammatory racial slur.

"This story and these allegations are false," Allen told reporters after a news conference yesterday morning with mostly black pastors in support of the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Virginia.

"I don't ever remember ever using that word. That word was not a part of my vocabulary as was asserted in this article. It wasn't then, it hasn't been since then and it is not now. It is not who I was, and it is not who I am. It is contrary to every fiber of my being."

Two of the former players spoke to Salon.com on the condition of anonymity, fearing retribution from the Allen campaign. The other teammate, Dr. Ken Shelton, a radiologist in Hendersonville, N.C., spoke publicly and stood by his comments in an interview yesterday with The Times-Dispatch.

"He did use the n-word," Shelton said in a phone interview. "He used it often. And it was, I'm sure, intended in a very derogatory manner. George's racial views were fairly obvious by some of his actions, too."

Shelton, 53 and a registered inde- pendent, cited a hunting trip where he said Allen stuffed the severed head of a deer in a mailbox in a neighborhood where blacks lived. Allen called that "absolutely false."

He also contended that Allen gave him the nickname "Wizard" because Shelton shared the same surname as Robert Shelton, the imperial wizard of the United Klans of America in the 1960s. Allen said he didn't know how Shelton obtained the moniker: "I assume he got that name because he did make some acrobatic catches. He had good hands."

The Allen campaign yesterday released statements from four other U.Va. teammates and the long-time trainer supporting the senator and rejecting Shelton's assertions.

Doug Jones, who roomed with Shelton and played on the team with Allen during the 1972 and 1973 seasons, said, "During that time I never heard George Allen use any racially disparaging word, nor did I ever witness or hear about him acting in a racially insensitive manner."

Allegations of racial insensitivity have plagued Allen's career. As a state legislator, he voted against a holiday to honor the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the civil-rights leader. As governor, he issued a proclamation recognizing Confederate History and Heritage Month, which generated controversy because it did not mention blacks or the sacrifices of those who fought against slavery and for the union of the country.

As senator, Allen has reached out to minorities. He sponsored legislation to help historically black colleges upgrade technology and a Senate apology for its failure to ban lynching in the early 20th century.

Allen, a former governor and first-term senator, is fighting the political battle of his life against Democrat Jim Webb, a decorated Marine and author. Webb has also had problems during the campaign. Allen has attacked the Democrat for writing a 1979 article in Washingtonian magazine that was critical about women in the military.

Recently, the Allen campaign has made some high-profile stumbles. In August, Allen addressed as "macaca" a Virginia-born Webb volunteer of Indian-American descent; macaca is a genus of monkey which is also considered a racial slur in some parts of the world. Last week, Allen acknowledged, after first refusing to answer, that he has Jewish ancestry.

National publications are speculating about the effects on Allen's 2008 presidential aspirations. A cover story about Allen in the latest edition of The Weekly Standard is titled, "George Allen Monkeys Around. Forget the presidential campaign. Can he still win his Senate race?"

"And the boulder just keeps rolling down hill and gaining momentum," Sabato said. "Fundamentally, one of the basic problems for Allen is that he refused to make a choice between running for the Senate again and running for president. These are two contradictory campaigns, and they have encouraged some of the revelations."

Last night, in a nationally televised interview, Sabato said that Allen had used the epithet. "I'm simply going . . . to stay with what I know is the case and the fact is that he did use the n-word, whether he's denying it now or not," Sabato told Chris Matthews on MSNBC's "Hardball" program. Sabato would not say whether he personally heard Allen use the word.

Christopher J. LaCivita, an Allen strategist, told The Associated Press that Allen and Sabato, who were at U.Va. together, were not friends, nor did they associate with each other in college. "Larry is obviously relying on words he heard from someone else. We believe it's completely inaccurate."

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