Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 31, 1990 TAG: 9007310400
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Lest anyone forget, Super Tuesday - brainchild of former Virginia Gov. Charles Robb and other moderate-to-conservative Southern Democrats - was a Dixie dud that failed to serve a single political purpose for which it was created.
It was supposed to shore up the South's influence in the presidential nomination process and improve the Democrats' chances of winning the White House by producing a nominee acceptable to the region that had increasingly voted Republican in presidential election years. (Translation: prevent a Damn Yankee with suspicious left-wing tendencies from getting the nomination.)
So whom did the Democrats wind up with? Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. He was routed by Republican George Bush in every Southern state.
Super Tuesday was also supposed to sideline Jesse Jackson in the national Democratic Party by bringing white voters out in droves to offset his strong following among blacks. Instead, the Southern primary boosted Jackson's candidacy and his national influence considerably.
Much to Robb's chagrin, Virginia gave Jackson a sizable victory and his best showing of all the Super Tuesday states. Robb's choice, Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore, finished a distant second in the Old Dominion.
Rather than attracting moderate-conservative whites back to the Democratic fold, the primary saw voters either sitting it out or entering on the Republican side. (The biggest winner on Super Tuesday was, of course, George Bush.)
In Virginia, the turnout overall was abysmally low. The state's record was the worst of all the participating Southern and border states. And the white turnout was proportionately one of the state's lowest in modern times, something of an embarrassment for Robb.
Finally, while the primary's founders envisioned the candidates camping out in the South and heavily courting Southern voters, the massive primary had the effect of spreading the contenders' time so thin that few Southerners ever laid eyes on them. Outside of a few airport appearances, they mostly ignored Virginia. Gore was the only one who bothered to budget a substantial amount for television advertising in the state.
Since Virginia by tradition does not hold primaries to select delegates to presidential nominating conventions, the General Assembly - in deference to Robb - approved a special bill and $453,000 appropriation to participate in Super Tuesday '88. But it was a one-shot experiment.
And, since it did not produce the desired results, state legislative leaders last week advised colleagues in the Southern Legislative Conference that they probably should count Virginia out in '92.
Virginia's hope for a greater voice in future presidential nominating contests in general, and in the Democrats' nominating process specifically, is hardly a lost cause. Indeed, since two of its favorite sons - Gov. Douglas Wilder and Robb, now a U.S. senator - are big-time players on the national political scene (as well as potential Democratic national candidates), the state's influence already is on the rise.
The present primary system needs to be improved; for one thing, it gives too much weight to early contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.
Eventually, a not-so-super Southern primary may be designed that will prove more workable and offer enough advantages for both political parties to compel Virginia's interest and participation. That would be nice. Regional primaries aren't such a bad idea. And Virginians ought to have an opportunity to participate in the nominating process.
by CNB