Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 29, 1992 TAG: 9201290194
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
DEMOCRATS PLAN MAYOR'S RACE STRATEGY
Roanoke Councilman David Bowers' month-old campaign for mayor got a boost Tuesday from Noel Taylor's decision to retire.Bowers, the only Democrat who was willing to challenge the popular four-term mayor, will not have to do that now.
Bowers still will face a strong challenge within his party from Vice Mayor Howard Musser, the leading vote-getter each time he has run for council.
Musser, who has been holding off on his campaign until Taylor decided what he was going to do, will have a news conference Thursday to say he is getting into the race.
A councilman for 10 years, Musser will have the support of several elected officials, including Councilman James Harvey, who said earlier that Musser should be the party's nominee.
Bowers' supporters are expected to contend that he deserves to be party's choice because he was willing to take on Taylor while Musser played it safe.
Bowers, 39, has irritated some bankers and businessmen with his votes on several issues, including his opposition to closing the Jefferson Street leg of the Hunter Viaduct to provide a site for the Dominion Tower.
Musser, 62, is considered to be less partisan than Bowers, with more support in the business community.
The Democrats will choose their nominee for mayor at a Feb. 22 mass meeting. The winner will be the candidate who gets the most supporters to attend the meeting.
Bowers and Musser are expected to use their political connections to get hundreds of Democrats to attend.
The meeting is scheduled to be in the William Fleming High School auditorium, which seats fewer than 1,000 people. There is talk that the meeting might be moved to a larger auditorium.
The Republicans will wait until after the Democrats' meeting to nominate their candidates.
By waiting, the GOP will know the Democrats' nominee for mayor and the council seats now held by Bowers, Elizabeth Bowles and Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr.
Bowles, a Republican, is expected to announce today that she will seek a new term.
Republican Willis Anderson, 63, the youngest person ever to be mayor of Roanoke, is being urged to seek the post again this year, three decades after he first held it.
Former Councilman Robert Garland has also been mentioned as a possible GOP candidate. Garland, 68, left council in 1990 after serving 24 years, choosing not to seek a seventh term.
Keywords:
POLITICS