Unless Allen screws up the spin (and given that he can't spell cat if you spot him the K and the A, this is entirely possible) I doubt this will hurt him... Too easy to spin it as the staffers saw this angry person and thought he was a danger to the candidate and wanted to be safe rather than sorry.  Apologize to Mike Stark, but have staffers say they will always protect Allen, who they admire more than anyone and you diffuse the situation and possibly turn it into a positive.  

Yes it was wrong and despicable, but easy to spin unless you are a moron.  SO I give Allen a 50-50 shot to screw it up.  

Sue. Call the press.

This was not a fight - Mike was assaulted by Allen staffers.  

This was not a protest - it was after the event, as Allen was meeting & greeting.

Mike must file charges.

Allen must fire these staffers and condemn thuggery.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq2RU3ScZ EM

I can see the headlines:  

"Netroots tackled by Methuselah"

This doesn't make either side look good.  Brainy young trespasser taken down by an old man from Allen's staff.  Good lord what has this race come down to lol

A couple notes, for what they are worth:

Assuming that the people who tackled Stark with Allen "staffers" is a bold assumption -- George was a long time resident of Albemarle County, and this was a private party not a public campaign event that Stark tried to crash -- likely, these were partisans  untrained in either security, or guerilla tactics.

I suspect that Stark knew precisely what reaction he hoped to provoke, and he has been 'rewarded' for his good planning.

Good luck to Stark trying to get authorities, and a judge, to take him seriously.  You can spin the footage however you want -- nobody's buying what's being sold.

Lest you think that I am a partisan of Allen's, take solace in the fact that regardless of how next Tuesday turns out, George will lose in Albemarle County... ponder that... a majority Republican, conservative, well-to-do district... where Allen made his home... who Allen represented in Congress... will vote him down.  Why is that?

Well, because WE KNOW GEORGE.

(By the way, the violent, bully stuff is crap -- everybody's sister says that about their brother -- even mine, and I don't have one.)

He is a crude man propped up by influential friends.  He delights in private telling grossly offensive jokes -- about women, blacks, gays, teachers, farmers, Hokies, Democrats.  He is arrogant, and barely "tolerates" his constituency.  The cowboy boots, chewing tobacco, and spitoon are an act -- this is a displaced California boy cultivating a faux image.

It is fairly well known that young George was a philandering, verbally abusive husband to his first wife, who did not share his political aspirations.

Better that this George self-destruct now, than later.