When George Allen served as governor in the mid-1990s, not every local business venture worked out in his favor.

After all, the planned theme park Disney's America in Haymarket fizzled out in September 1994 during his first full year in office.

Yet the success of Micron Technology, Inc. in Manassas has generated millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs locally.

In 1995, Allen oversaw the recruitment of Tobisha's Dominion Semiconductor, LLC, on the edge of town, which was later purchased by Micron.

Today, Micron boasts 1,186 employees, according to the City of Manassas government website. Only Lockheed Martin Maritime Systems and Sensors (1,500) and the Prince William Health System (1,400) employ more people within the city.

Recruiting Dominion was "one of my happiest days as governor," Allen said with a smile during a 22-minute chat with local reporters at the grand jury room on the third floor of the courthouse.

Allen came to town as part of his campaign to reclaim the U.S. Senate seat he lost to Sen. Jim Webb (D) in 2006. He faces nominal opposition in the June Republican primary and is favored to face Democratic frontrunner, former Gov. Tim Kaine, in the general election this November.

He held a town hall-style meeting at Micron earlier in the afternoon and discussed his economic, energy and taxation proposals.

At Micron, "their workforce is from all over the world," said Allen.

While he repeatedly referenced many parts of his day-to-day stump speech, one part of it that directly concerns Micron is granting green cards to foreign students who graduate in America with degrees in engineering.

When asked whether he supports granting more H1-B visas to foreign works, Allen demurred, saying he has a record on the issue from his days in Congress but did not specify his current stance.

However, in an October 2006 debate in Fairfax County, Allen said about the program, ""I am an original sponsor of the 'Securing Knowledge, Innovation and Leadership' bill to expand the number of visas allowed for high-tech workers educated in the United States who are employed as part of the H1-B visa program. We need to strengthen education to make this country more competitive and make sure that highly skilled workers, and their jobs, remain in the U.S."

On other employment matters, Allen criticized the National Labor Review Board for being "puppets" of union labor due to the NLRB's now-dropped lawsuit against Boeing regarding whether the company could move to a right-to-work state.

Shifting focus to energy policy, Allen noted that Micron has a $22 million annual electric bill. He supports drilling for oil and natural gas off of Virginia's coastlines and trumpets the benefits of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would link Canada to the southern United States.

Skeptics of the plan fear potential oil leaks and their environmental impacts. Allen, however, considers the pipeline a job creator and routinely attacked Kaine last year for not taking a firm stance on the issue.

Allen touted his support for non-renewable energy resources, such as coal and gasoline, while also mentioning that he supports increased power production from hydro-electric and geothermal sources as well as methane gases generated at landfills.

He is largely dismissive of the idea of wind power, however, and mentioned that no one at Micron asked him about it.

The former quarterback played the role of kicker at different points of the interview. He punted on questions about his fourth quarter fundraising, a potential primary challenge by Manassas Del. Bob Marshall (R), comments made by Kaine during a Dec. 7 debate about Allen's spending record and Kaine's willingness to use Allen's 2006 "macaca" comment against him.

He said he met his fundraising goals at the end of 2011 but laughed when asked to reveal them; he said he was focused on his own campaign when asked about Marshall; and said he had a different vision than Kaine without addressing the attacks levied against him.

Allen instead attacked Kaine for advocating for Pres. Obama’s health care reform plan while Kaine served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

The son of the late Washington Redskins head coach of the same name, did, however, weigh in on another pressing regional matter: the Redskins' 5-11 season.

"They need a quarterback," said Allen.

Ever the public speaker, he then used the opportunity to transition right back into the topic of the day: Micron.

"You talk about a winning team," said Allen. "That's a winning team."