Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 16, 1992 TAG: 9203160093
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The first deals with the Roanoke Valley labor unions' bucking the state AFL-CIO endorsement of John Edwards for the Democratic nomination in favor of John Fishwick; the second with little-known GOP candidate Donna Vance Erikson, who's trying to derail the party's consensus choice, Bob Goodlatte.
There's even a lesson there for presidential candidate Pat Buchanan.
Union leader: 75 percent will go with Fishwick
The unions backing Fishwick say there's nothing wrong with Edwards; they're just more excited about Fishwick.
It's also a classic case of one guy - Edwards - working within the process to win the AFL-CIO endorsement, while another - Fishwick - bypassed the state leadership and went directly into the union halls. He got workers stirred up with his tough-on-trade, tough-on-corporate irresponsibility message. The union members were then furious when the endorsement came down for Edwards. They thought their wishes had been snubbed.
AFL-CIO endorsement or no, Dan Anderson of the Firemen and Oilers Union predicts 75 percent of the union vote in the Roanoke Valley - not just 75 percent of the transportation unions who started the revolt, but 75 percent overall - will go to Fishwick.
So what do state AFL-CIO leaders think about not being able to deliver? They're not saying. But state secretary-treasurer Jim Leaman, who's originally from Roanoke, was in town last week trying to gauge the extent of the uprising.
No hard feelings
The labor people backing Fishwick stress there's no hard feeling between them and the unions sticking with Edwards.
"We still eat lunch together and work together on all our other projects," Anderson says. "We just have a difference of opinion on this. After the nomination, we'll all come together."
Refresher course in Campaign 101
Donna Vance Erikson - the candidate whom even GOP activists in her adopted hometown of Lynchburg hadn't heard of until she announced - embarked on a two-day "media tour" of the district last week.
Problem is, while she was doing TV, newspaper and radio interviews, she probably was talking to the wrong audience. Republicans started their mass meetings last week to elect convention delegates. But while GOP favorite Bob Goodlatte has been busy "pre-filing" delegates - rounding up his supporters to run for slots as convention delegates - Erikson hasn't been.
Salem Republicans elected 32 convention delegates last week. Of those, 31 are supporters Goodlatte rounded up, the other is uncommitted.
In Roanoke County, which will send the biggest delegation to the May 16 convention, Goodlatte pre-filed 122 of his supporters to run for delegates; Erikson only had one, and that was a delegate who pre-filed for her on his own initiative.
Asked about why she wasn't pre-filing delegates, Erikson responded angrily: "You don't understand the process. Delegates file themselves."
Wrong. It's the campaigns that traditionally file the delegates, sometimes even paying their filing fees. "You've got to go out and get them," Goodlatte says. "They don't grow on trees."
"Beyond the realm of the possible"
So just how does Erikson expect to win when the only delegates at the convention likely will be those that Goodlatte has recruited?
"That doesn't mean they're going to vote for him," Erikson says. "Let's not forget, that first vote isn't cast until May 16."
Goodlatte's supporters guffaw at the notion that delegates Goodlatte has recruited will jump ship. "I don't think that's a realistic assumption on her part," says campaign manager Tim Phillips. "These are people who have known Bob for years. It's beyond the realm of the possible."
Bad news for Pat Buchanan, too
When 6th District GOP Chairman Don Duncan broke his traditional pledge of neutrality and appealed last week for Erikson to get out of the race, she fired back that "I have never seen such underhanded methods . . . My opponent is trying to subvert the process and to let a few insiders decide for everyone who the Republican nominee shall be."
If anyone is being shut out of the 6th District race, though, it's Pat Buchanan.
The same requirements about pre-filing slates of delegates to seek seats at the district convention that Erikson is ignoring also serve to frustrate President Bush's challenger.
It's a safe bet that the people Goodlatte is recruiting and electing as delegates to the 6th District convention are all reliable GOP regulars for Bush.
That means any Buchanan supporters who show up at their local mass meetings won't be able to elect their own as delegates to the next stage of the process.
Media watch
One of the most significant events of the campaign - the labor uprising for Fishwick - almost went unreported.
The labor leaders organizing the March 2 rally where they were going to proclaim their support for Fishwick faxed announcements to Roanoke Valley media. But no reporters showed up.
What happened? Perhaps the notice "Transportation Workers will rally for John Fishwick for Congress" was so vague it didn't seem newsworthy. At least one TV station called the Fishwick campaign to say it wouldn't be covering the event. At the Roanoke Times & World-News, the fax - addressed to no one in particular - got misrouted to someone who didn't recognize its significance.
Labor leaders were so furious at what they considered a media snub that they made a pact among themselves not to discuss their movement with any reporters who called later.
Four days later, the Fishwick campaign finally persuaded the labor leaders to go public.
Out of the woods
Goodlatte told Harrisonburg radio station WSVA last week: "I think we have enough wilderness areas in the 6th Congressional District. Jim Olin was very fond of those. I would not push for any more wilderness areas.
"Instead, I would like to see greater involvement by the local community in making the decisions on the use of our national forests." - DWAYNE YANCEY
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB