Jamie Radtke, the Tea Party candidate who lost Virginia’s Republican primary, has endorsed her former rival, George Allen, in his bid to win the Senate race against Democrat Tim Kaine. Radtke announced her endorsement of Allen in and email message to her supporters:

In short, I offered an endorsement for George Allen on two conditions. First, he had to put on paper substantive plans to curtail spending and reign in the federal debt. Second, I needed to see him publicly herald those plans in his campaign as a demonstration of his commitment to them. To his credit, he has done both.

Recently George Allen sent me a four-page document detailing short and long term proposals to address spending and debt. Frankly, I was encouraged by what it contained. We would benefit greatly from many of the items he proposes, like capping spending at 19% of GDP, stopping earmark spending, freezing federal hiring, rolling back to 2008 spending levels, blocking Medicaid grants to the states, reforming Medicare to return control to individuals, reforming social security by raising the age for the younger generation to keep it solvent for them, and supporting the REINS Act to stop the very expensive, freedom-robbing overregulation by federal agencies. Since putting his plans on paper, he has promoted it in several public forums – – promising to work toward solving our nation’s financial crisis…

Based on George Allen’s newly detailed plans to restore fiscal sanity to Washington, I endorse George Allen. I wanted to write to you, to let you know first. I’m excited about the opportunity to help take this message across Virginia. Voters need to know that George Allen is committed to responsibly and immediately tackling this looming financial crisis. 

News of Radtke’s endorsement was greeted with enthusiasm by Republicans throughout Virginia. Polls show Allen and Kaine running neck and neck. Radtke’s endorsement was seen as a shot in the arm for Allen’s campaign, which now has a green light to reach out to the many Radtke grassroots supporters who have been holding back their involvement with the Allen campaign until now.