Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 17, 1990 TAG: 9006170272
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FREDERICKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"I don't believe that a sufficient number of Democrats truly understand the seriousness of this political threat," Paul Goldman told Democrats meeting in Fredericksburg.
He said too many Democrats are writing the GOP's political obituary after three consecutive Democratic sweeps of the top three statewide offices.
"That's dead wrong," Goldman said.
In fact, he said, Democrats "made our worst showing of the century" in the 1989 legislative elections, when voters sent an all-time high of 39 Republicans to the House of Delegates. He said Republicans received nearly 45 percent of the total votes cast, up from 36.5 percent in 1981.
"At the legislative level, 1989 was a banner GOP year," Goldman said.
"It's reached a point now where the Republicans can mount a very serious challenge" to the Democrats' control of the General Assembly.
Donald Huffman, state GOP chairman from Roanoke, agreed with Goldman.
"The fact that we made some significant gains in the 1989 legislative races was lost because of the losses in the top three offices," Huffman said in a telephone interview Saturday night. "We did pick up five seats, and a couple more elections with that kind of gain puts us even with the Democrats."
Huffman said Goldman was "trying to stir his troops up" to reverse Republican gains of the last few years.
Goldman warned that "1991 will be the toughest year Virginia Democrats running for legislative office have ever encountered."
Legislative districts will be redrawn to take into account new census figures, and that change will disrupt some incumbents' constituencies, Goldman said.
"A redistricting year offers the Republicans a rare opportunity for both political mischief-making and for the playing of political hardball," he said.
by CNB