Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 26, 1993 TAG: 9303260359
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-13 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
UPDIKE BOWS OUT, BUT NOT OFF STAGE
Bedford County prosecutor Jim Updike quit the 1993 race for the Democratic nomination for attorney general Thursday but sounded very much like a candidate for 1997.Updike's withdrawal ends the only nomination fight that Virginia Democrats went through this year and gives them a two-month head start on the Republicans, who won't pick their candidates for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general until June.
It also gives Updike the one advantage in a future race that he didn't have in his short-lived bid for statewide office this year: time.
From the start, the contest between Updike and Arlington lawyer Bill Dolan was seen as a mismatch.
The well-financed Dolan, a former president of the Virginia State Bar, had spent years traveling the state to court the party activists who control the Democrats' nominating process. Updike didn't get around to hiring a staff until January, barely two months before Democrats held mass meetings to select convention delegates.
Updike joked that when he first interviewed his campaign manager, Billy Sublett, "I told him we have no money and no time. Billy was within his right to recommend a mental evaluation."
Instead, Updike forged ahead, and was able to rally regional loyalties in Western Virginia. But in many localities in the urban corridor, he was unable to win a single delegate at mass meetings Saturday and Monday.
Thursday, Updike said it was time to "acknowledge the obvious," that Dolan has clinched the nomination by a 5-to-1 margin.
The latest delegate counts put Dolan at 2,469 delegates and Updike at 510, with 385 uncommitted. It takes 1,751 delegates to win the party's nomination.
Updike was a model of graciousness as he formally ended his statewide bid in the jury room of the Bedford County courthouse.
He promised Dolan his "enthusiastic and sincere support."
He also made clear that he'll keep trying.
"I would like to continue in the political process and I'm hoping there may be some role I may play in the future in the state Democratic Party," Updike said.
Dolan, from his campaign headquarters in McLean, praised Updike for running a "spirited" campaign. "I think he's going to be a player," Dolan said.
Other party leaders around the state agreed that Updike's bid this year could serve as a trial run for the future. "We became very impressed with him and feel very warmly toward him," said Henrico County Democratic Chairman Bernie Henderson. "I think he will stay on the scene."
Some supporters are encouraging Updike - a fiery orator - to angle for a speaking assignment at the state convention, in hopes that will help increase his visibility and lay the groundwork for another statewide bid.