Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 9, 1995                   TAG: 9511100004
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

OF WINNERS AND LOSERS

If you're sick of politics, get used to it: In Virginia, every year is an election year. Municipal elections are on tap for this spring, followed by the presidential and congressional elections in the fall; then the gubernatorial and House of Delegates elections in '97; then more municipal elections and congressional elections in '98, ad infinitum and nauseam. When will Virginia get around to moving state elections to even-numbered years?

Huntah!

Aristocratic, pompous, abrasive ... Whatever else he may be, Sen. Hunter Andrews of Hampton has been the state Senate's potentate. As majority leader and chairman of the Finance Committee, he has enjoyed near-ironclad control over the Senate's handling of committee assignments, budgets, and the ebb and flow of legislation. In many ways, he has been as powerful as Virginia governors. This sort of occasional change - removing a seemingly fixed prince - is not a bad thing in politics. But the defeat of the 32-year Senate veteran, a victim both of racially gerrymandered redistricting and of his own imperious personality, is still a shock. It also happens to leave House Majority Leader Dick Cranwell with no rivals in legislative influence.

Negative bucks

At least in Southwest Virginia, big-money negative campaigns took it on the chin. Unremitting reams of direct-mail attacks by GOP challengers Newell Falkinburg and Trixie Averill, bolstered by $80,000 each from heirs to the Via family fortune, failed to dislodge Del. Chip Woodrum and Cranwell. An attack campaign by Republican Pat Cupp also failed to defeat state Sen. Madison Marye of Shawsville, and GOP state Sen. Brandon Bell's accentuation of the negative probably contributed to his loss to Roanoke Vice Mayor John Edwards. It's not only how much you have to spend; it's also how you spend it.

Church and state

Voters committed to the principle of separating church from state did well to worry about candidates who inadequately support that separation. Defeated, for example, were Montgomery County School Board candidates Jack LeDoux, founder of the local Christian Coalition chapter, and Bob Anderson, a youth pastor. Anderson had said religion wasn't a factor in his race. But he also told a reporter: "We believe that kids are smart enough to use a condom. But, God forbid we hang the Ten Commandments on the wall - we can't trust them to choose a religion." No, it's agents of the state who can't be entrusted with religion.

Picture of grace

Grace comes more easily to some than to others. "He was a gentleman all the way," said Republican Joel Branscom of his opponent, Botetourt County Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Hagan Jr. Branscom, who upset the incumbent Democrat, praised Hagan for the way he ran his campaign. Contrast that with the opponents of Spike Harrison, who was elected to the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors from the Catawba District. Their whining and griping didn't stop when the polls closed. "Where is he [Harrison] going to have the time . . . and still give the quality of service to the board?" asked Crouse. Give it up.