THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 11, 1994 TAG: 9411100166
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY TONY WHARTON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
IF THE REPUBLICANS thought they had locked up Chesapeake for good, Democrats showed Tuesday they still know a thing or two about getting out the vote.
The city that has turned increasingly conservative in recent years narrowly voted to re-elect Sen. Charles S. Robb and went solidly for Rep. Norman Sisisky, both incumbent Democrats.
``We had Democrats working together instead of fighting together,'' said Sisisky campaign worker and civic leagues leader Phil Johnson, and many people in both parties agreed with him.
On a nonpartisan issue, Chesapeake voters solidly approved a $76.9-million spending package to build roads, improve railroad crossings and renovate bridges. Although it's the largest bond issue the city has ever asked voters to approve, the road bonds lost in only one precinct, E.W. Chittum Elementary School in Western Branch.
For the partisan races, the Democrats, usually the dis-organized political party, seemed to suddenly remember how to organize.
In precincts like Crestwood, Camelot and South Norfolk Fire Station, Republicans Oliver L. North and A. George Sweet III couldn't scrape together more than 20 percent of the votes, and Democrats nailed victory margins of 1,000 votes and more.
On the flip side, the Republicans' vaunted home base, Great Bridge Fire Station, provided only lukewarm GOP victories. Sweet beat Sisisky in Great Bridge by only about 183 votes.
Greenbrier, another strong area for Republicans in past elections, split evenly this time between the parties.
``There's more of us than there are of them,'' said Tim Shock, manager of Sisisky's campaign. ``Today we turned them out.''
Both Democrats and Republicans said one major factor was that African-Americans turned out in large numbers.
``One of the Republicans made the comment that they didn't think it was cost effective to campaign in African-American communities,'' said Grindly Johnson, chairwoman of the Democratic city committee. ``That alienated African-Americans.''
Vice Mayor Arthur L. Dwyer, a leading Chesapeake Republican, said, ``I think the last councilmanic race put some fears in people's minds that they needed to do a better job of getting the vote out. If you look at the numbers, it was North's game in Chesapeake until you looked at the African-American precincts.''
State Sen. Mark L. Earley thought there was another explanation. ``I'll tell you, Chesapeake on these statewide races is a real bellwether,'' Earley said Tuesday night. ``I told people to watch Chesapeake on the Robb-North race.
``Clearly North had an awful lot of baggage that a lot of voters weren't willing to embrace.''
In the Sisisky-Sweet race, Earley said, ``George Sweet did very, very well for someone who's never run for office before and who was running against a very strong Democratic incumbent, and the richest man in Congress to boot.''
Earley knows about running against Democratic incumbents. He started the Republican tide in Chesapeake in 1987 by upsetting longtime State Sen. William T. Parker.
Earley had discovered something about Chesapeake: It was growing so fast that many suburbanites didn't know the supposedly entrenched Democrats. Plus, many of those suburban voters tended to be conservative.
Thus, Great Bridge Fire Station, in the midst of the sprawling new subdivisions, became the engine of the GOP's success.
In 1988, Republican David I. Wynne won the first direct election for mayor. In 1989, Great Bridge lawyer Randy Forbes won a state House of Delegates seat.
The Democrats' last citadel was the City Council, technically non-partisan but in practice very partisan. It resisted a concerted Republican effort in 1990 and 1992. But in 1994 the Republicans won their coveted majority.
It seemed the GOP had Chesapeake's number. Year after year, Democrats fought and lost, Republicans worked together and won.
That changed Tuesday, at least.
Shock said, ``The Democrats worked together, they campaigned together, and when they do, they're unbeatable.''
Will this new Democratic confidence hold? Republicans pointed out that the Robb-North race produced high turnout, which can't always be duplicated.
The winners, still exulting, said things have changed for good.
``We knew where our weaknesses were, and we worked on them,'' Phil Johnson said. ILLUSTRATION: Photos on the Cover
Early birds at the Fentress Fire Station exercise their voting
priviledge at 7 a.m.
Signs for every candidate dot the grounds outside each precinct.
Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Voters line up outside the Taylor Road fire station as they wait
their turn to vote. The city narrowly helped re-elect Sen. Charles
Robb and went solidly for Rep. Norman Sisisky.
KEYWORDS: VOTING ELECTION RESULTS
U.S. SENATE RACE CONGRESSIONAL RACE
by CNB