Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 3, 1990 TAG: 9006030175
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARGIE FISHER RICHMOND BUREAU
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Gov. Douglas Wilder lost the 5th, 6th, 7th and 9th congressional districts to Republican Marshall Coleman last year, Goldman noted, and "some pundits and some in the party" now are counseling the Democrats to write off Western Virginia because it's not needed to win elections.
Underscoring that theory, he said, is the fact that both pari-mutuel betting and the state lottery passed with less support from the west than other parts of the state.
But in an interview Friday, Goldman said "the worst mistake we could make" is to give up on Western Virginia and assume the party can keep winning statewide elections if it concentrates on eastern areas with fast population growth where Democrats usually do well.
It was Goldman who orchestrated the famous Southwest Virginia tour during Wilder's 1985 race for lieutenant governor. Although some in the party had argued that the tour was a waste of time, it was later given significant credit for Wilder's breakthrough election.
Although Wilder did not do well in that area in his '89 gubernatorial race, Goldman said he still believes in a "three-corner" strategy that builds a winning coalition of Western Virginia along with Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.
Some people now are saying "you don't need a three-legged stool," he said. "I disagree with that. That three-legged strategy, in my view, is still the way to go."
To make his point, Goldman said a candidate might win a record margin in vote-rich Fairfax County but might lose a handful of Western Virginia counties by such lopsided margins "that the net vote out of there could offset your vote in Fairfax.
"So it's very important for people to remember that even though some areas don't have as many potential voters, if they ever swing one-side against you, you're going to be at the short end" of the election, he said.
With the 1990 census redistricting expected to weaken Western Virginia's clout in the General Assembly and Congress, thus possibly fostering the notion that the west can be ignored, Goldman said the time is ripe for Democrats to show they don't intend to ignore it.
Asked whether it was true that Joe Fisher - a former Northern Virginia congressman who is considering asking the Democratic Central Committee to endorse next Saturday him for the U.S. Senate - had not contacted Western Virginia party leaders about his possible candidacy, Goldman said, "Regrettably, that's exactly right. The fact that he hasn't even called anybody in the western part of the state is a perfect example of what I'm talking about."
While conceding that some western areas have been Republican strongholds, Goldman insisted that Democrats now have "one of the best opportunities we've ever had in the western part of the state" to change that.
"Look at the way Republicans have treated Linwood Holton," he said, noting that when the former Republican governor suggested recently that the more moderate wing of the party should take control, Don Huffman, state GOP chairman, "laughed at him."
Goldman charged that the GOP has abandoned its mountain-valley heritage, which came out of the western part of the state. Where the party once had "a very independent, fiscally responsible tradition that always tried to move Virginia forward," its leaders are now "mocking people" like Holton, who helped create the heritage.
"And I think the Democrats have a great opportunity" to appeal to those who may have supported Republicans in the past but don't like what they see happening in the GOP today, Goldman said.
Goldman said he hopes to enlist state legislators and congressman from Western Virginia in an effort to fertilize the party's grass-roots organizations and expand its campus activities. "The Republicans seem to be all over the campuses; we're not," he said.
Revealing his plans on the day Harry Carver of Christiansburg began work as the party's executive director, Goldman said Carver's appointment should signal to Western Virginia that he's serious about paying the area more heed.
Goldman said Carver's job is the first major internal party position in many years that has gone to someone from the western part of the state.
Though the Democrats have made three straight sweeps of all statewide offices, "we have seen Republican gains at the legislative level. And . . . we need to remember that despite our great successes it's not preordained" that Democrats will win.
by CNB