IT'S THE 3RD PITCH AND, FINALLY, EDWARDS SWINGS

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

DATE: FRIDAY, January 17, 1992                   TAG: 9201170388
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long
IT'S THE 3RD PITCH AND, FINALLY, EDWARDS SWINGS
JOHN EDWARDS, a Roanoke lawyer and former federal prosecutor, on Thursday became the second Democrat to enter the race for retiring Rep. Jim Olin's seat.
Ten years ago this spring, when Jim Olin was still nothing more than the retired head of General Electric's Salem plant, he leaned over to his tablemate at a luncheon and asked, "John, why don't you run for Congress?"
John Edwards mumbled his thanks. Olin wasn't the only person in 1982 urging the Roanoke lawyer to run for the seat the retiring Caldwell Butler was giving up.
In fact, Edwards' name had come up before, as a potential challenger to Butler in 1978. Edwards was a natural, a rising star with a prominent name - his father was Roanoke's mayor in the 1940s and later a judge. But Edwards was deterred from running for Congress then, for personal if not political reasons. "We were expecting our second child and we had just bought a new house," he said.
Edwards again passed in 1982. By then, he said, "we were expecting our third child and I was just getting back into private practice" after a stint as federal prosecutor.
Instead, it was Olin who went on to run - and win. But when Olin announced last month he'll be giving up the seat after a decade in Washington, Edwards' name again surfaced as a potential candidate.
The big difference: "I think the time is now right," Edwards said Thursday.
He's running.
So are two other Democrats: Vinton insurance executive Steve Musselwhite, who announced last week, and Roanoke lawyer John Fishwick, who will formally enter next Thursday.
The formal announcements, though, are mostly for show. The campaign really started the day Olin said he would retire. Almost immediately, Edwards started phoning party regulars throughout the district, while Fishwick got in his car and drove to meet them. Musselwhite wasn't far behind.
By now, the campaign already is a month old and the outlines of the race are starting to emerge.
Of the three, Edwards appears to have the firmest connections to longtime Democratic activists - the folks most likely to show up at the April mass meetings that will elect delegates to the May convention where a candidate will be chosen.
That's partly because he's 6th District Democratic chairman, and is the best-known to other Democrats in the Lynchburg-to-Roanoke-to-Harrisonburg district.
"John has gone out and made a whole lot of friends, because he's done the hard work behind the scenes, with committees and stuff," said the Rev. Carl Tinsley, Roanoke Democratic chairman and a powerful voice in Roanoke's black community. "We've been up and down the road together. I know him like my brother."
Edwards' cultivation of other Democrats around the district is no accident. "We've been talking about this moment for years," Tinsley said. He's backing Edwards.
Interestingly, while Musselwhite and Fishwick have made or will make obligatory announcement-day stops in the district's three TV markets - Roanoke, Lynchburg and Harrisonburg - Edwards also went to out-of-the-way Covington. Why? It's a big union town, and Edwards has his eye on a bloc of voters who may have a big say in who wins the Democratic nomination.
By contrast, Musselwhite appears strongest among business leaders and in suburban Roanoke County, while Fishwick may try to draw support from both of the other candidates' camps.
For now, the three appear to be fairly evenly matched.
Nomination campaigns tend to be subterranean affairs, fought well out of the public view in union halls and church socials, decided sometimes on the basis of who knows whom instead of on issues.
Still, public relations does play a part. Because they'll have to swim upstream this November against what they expect to be a Republican presidential tide in the 6th District, many Democrats say they want to be careful to nominate a candidate who can do well with independent voters.
With that in mind, Edwards rarely fails to mention that he's a former Marine. He's the only one of the three Democrats with a military record.
He also touts his 18-month tour of duty as U.S. attorney during the Carter administration, a tenure that was as controversial and well-publicized as it was brief.
Edwards focused on busting up crime in the coalfields. He initiated a nationwide effort to uncover influence-peddling and graft by federal mine inspectors. He also cracked down on criminal violations of federal coal mine safety and health laws. His office had the best record in the country for prosecuting such offenses. One prosecution ended with Clinchfield Coal Co. paying $100,000 - at the time the largest fine ever imposed on a coal company for violating safety standards.
But Edwards was also criticized for being a publicity hound who called up reporters and read his own press releases. And a defendant charged with interstate gun-running accused Edwards of "prosecutorial vindictiveness."
That's in marked contrast to the Edwards of more recent years, who comes across as thoughtful, cerebral, almost shy, given to ruminating about economic theory.
Tinsley is impressed: "I think he's going to go further than this."
Keywords:
POLITICS

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB