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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 3, 1993                   TAG: 9311040249
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ALLEN AND THE GOP SURGE

George Allen has ended Democrats' 12-year lease on the governor's mansion. Local Republicans fared pretty well, too. Congratulations to them all.

And to the voters, who did their democratic duty and seemed to split their tickets thoughtfully.

An irony of this election is that faithful supporters of GOP lieutenant governor aspirant Mike Farris swelled the turnout for all Republican candidates, but couldn't elect the one who brought them to the dance.

This is just as well, from our point of view - not merely because of Farris' baggage, which included a barely hidden disdain for public schools, but also because Democrat Don Beyer has been an excellent lieutenant governor.

Now Virginia's pre-eminent Democrat, Beyer did well to survive the storm that wrecked the candidacy of Mary Sue Terry, who would have been the state's first woman governor.

Bill Dolan, running for attorney general, was swamped by Republican Jim Gilmore in part because the latter's message - whatever its relevance to the office he coveted - was at least simple: Gilmore won't coddle criminals. If Democrats had a message, aside from fear-mongering about Republicans, they didn't do a very good job articulating it.

The stage for their defeat was set at the top. Causes of Terry's loss, despite her initial advantage in the polls, were many: a bad year for Democrats; a questionable campaign strategy; the multi-headed albatross of Clinton, Robb, Wilder; the natural tightening of the race as Allen gained name recognition; and prejudice against a single woman in her position.

Surely, though, the Democrat's failure to fashion a compelling campaign theme contributed to her humiliation. Voters apparently didn't buy Democrats' attempts to link Allen to hobgoblins of the right; his affable indignation worked.

Now Virginians can hope this Republican will prove their judgment correct. They can hope he'll be able to deliver on his promised efforts to improve academic standards in schools, to revitalize Virginia's troubled inner cities, to foster economic growth across the commonwealth, to look at ways of reorganizing local government. In these and other important endeavors, all Virginians should wish the next governor luck.

Locally, a few Democrats resisted the Republican onslaught. Veterinarian Jim Shuler won the 12th District House seat, vacated by retiring Democrat Joan Munford. Bob Johnson and Robert Layman kept their supervisors' seats in Roanoke and Botetourt counties respectively.

But the Grand Old Party carried the day. Just about every House seat that changed parties statewide went to a Republican.

Among GOP victors in these parts were Roanoke County Supervisor Lee Eddy, Botetourt supervisors candidate John Shiflett, Montgomery County Supervisors Joe Stewart and Henry Jablonski, and House of Delegates aspirants Allen Dudley and Morgan Griffith.

It would be wrong to assume they were simply carried to victory on a GOP tide. Each had selling-points in his favor: Eddy as a careful and competent incumbent, Shiflett as a committed activist in county politics, Stewart as a farmer opposed to spending projects, Jablonski as an incumbent who does his homework, Dudley as a critic of the status quo, Griffith as an aggressive young lawyer.

Griffith's trouncing of Salem City Councilman Howard Packett was in part a repudiation of negative campaigning. Packett was one of several Democrats this year who weren't well served by this technique.

On the other hand, 14th District voters were wise to re-elect a Democrat who was a target of negative campaigning. Voters couldn't ignore the fact that Dick Cranwell is majority leader and an influential force for this region's interests. Given Terry's loss, it will be all the more important to have Cranwell in Richmond pushing, for example, to reduce disparities in school funding.

Schools will need more attention because of Tuesday's election, and not just with regard to funding. School boards will be elected in all counties that presented to voters a referendum on how to select school-board members. The impact of this decision, in Roanoke and Montgomery counties and elsewhere, will depend greatly on the quality and motives of candidates and the attention-level of the electorate.

Then again, that is how democracy works.

Keywords:
ELECTION