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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 15, 1993                   TAG: 9312150300
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

THE PRIMARY WAY TO GO . . .

VIRGINIA Democrats' decision over the weekend to hold a primary rather than a convention to select their U.S. Senate nominee is a wise choice, in our view, because primaries boost political participation.

As it happens, the Democrats also probably improved their odds of retaining the seat in the November 1994 general election.

It was already evident that the feud between Sen. Charles Robb and Gov. Douglas Wilder would dominate events. Any notion of preserving a modicum of party unity, one frequent defense for sticking to the convention method rather than holding a primary, has long since gone a-glimmerin'.

Indeed, the decision for a primary may have ended the possibility of Wilder's running as a third, independent candidate in the general election.

Existing rules make it difficult or impossible to file as an independent after losing a primary. Having only one Democrat in the general election has to increase the nominee's chances - even if a convention might also have enhanced Democrats' odds by drafting an alternative to both Robb and Wilder.

A primary still provides an opening for other candidates. Probably not former Gov. Gerald Baliles, who has declined to run against Robb, but who was a conceivable choice of a deadlocked convention. Perhaps, though, Sylvia Clute or Dan Alcorn, both of whom are announced candidates.

Clute and Alcorn are less widely known than the big names, but are serious candidates, and carry fewer scars from political wars past and present.

The most significant impact of holding a primary, though - aside from increasing participation among the electorate - may reside outside the Democratic Party.

By improving the odds that both Robb and Wilder will not be general-election candidates - it apparently will be either or neither - a Democratic primary also diminishes the prospects that Virginia will suffer the ignominy of being represented in the Senate by Oliver North.

North's in-your-face attitude is red meat for the radical right, but less appetizing to swing voters. Thoughtful Republicans would do well to reconsider the rise of an admitted lawbreaker and liar as their party's nominee apparent - a reconsideration that ought take place on general principle, regardless of what Virginia Democrats do.

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB