Feb. 18-Former Senator George Allen, tours Southwest, VA and meets people in Abingdon, Martinsville, Stuart and Danville. Source Tricities.com. Photo by Tom Bishop

ABINGDON, Va. -- Former Gov. George Allen stressed his ties to the region during a stop here Friday along his U.S. Senate campaign trail. Allen said he’s been talking to business owners and others in Southwest Virginia this week. “This is where I started my professional career,� he said, referring to the federal courthouse behind him where he worked as a law clerk in the late 1970s for U.S. District Judge Glen Williams. His fellow clerk at the time was Cynthia Kinser, who he later appointed to serve on the Virginia Supreme Court and who now serves as the court’s chief justice. Among the biggest issues Allen said people in the region are concerned about: rising gas prices, growing environmental regulations on Southwest Virginia’s energy industry, young people who are unable to find jobs and problems posed by the massive health care law Congress passed in 2010. He expressed support for hydraulic fracturing to develop natural gas resources that he said could be used to fuel cars in place of expensive foreign oil. He lobbed criticism at the $800 billion economic stimulus package approved three years ago, pointing to continuing unemployment levels as evidence of its failure. Allen said he expects the 2012 election to be as pivotal as the 1980 election, when Republican Ronald Reagan defeated Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter and Republicans won control of the U.S. Senate.