Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 6, 1994 TAG: 9401060155
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PHYLLIS W. JORDAN LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: MCLEAN LENGTH: Medium
Forgiving Robb his vote supporting anti-abortion-rights Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the National Abortion Rights Action League and its Virginia affiliate praised the incumbent senator Wednesday as a "steadfast friend."
"This is a Senate race; we have a friend in the Senate," said Kate Michelman, the league's national president. "This is not about Governor Wilder. This is not anti-Governor Wilder. This is pro-Senator Robb."
Later, Michelman added, "I also think that Chuck Robb has the best chance of beating Oliver North, and it's imperative that we beat Oliver North."
North is the leading contender for the Republican nomination; Wilder and Robb, along with at least two other possible candidates, will vie in a June primary for the Democratic slot.
The league's early endorsement for the incumbent drew no response from Wilder, who was on an African trade mission, but angered another potential candidate, Northern Virginia party activist Dan Alcorn.
"I don't consider it a valid endorsement, because they did not seek to hear from the other candidates," Alcorn said. One of his supporters quit the board of directors of the league's Virginia affiliate Wednesday after the group voted 5-4 to join the national organization in backing Robb.
"This is another case of the out-of-touch national NARAL organization forcing its ill-advised, tarnished choice down the throat of the state affiliate, just as national NARAL forced Bob Packwood on the Oregon affiliate over in-state objections," said Nicole Larson, who is on Alcorn's exploratory committee. "I do not want my name linked in any way with an endorsement for the nomination of Charles Robb."
Larson was particularly angry at Robb's vote for Thomas, the controversial Supreme Court pick who is understood to oppose abortion rights. Michelman acknowledged Wednesday that the group was disturbed by the vote, but said it considered Robb's entire record before making the endorsement.
Specifically, Robb supports the Freedom of Choice Act, which would put Supreme Court decisions protecting abortion rights into the statute books. He also has voted consistently for legislation supporting the abortion rights.
Robb admitted Wednesday that the Thomas vote had cost him some supporters. "That was undoubtedly the most difficult vote that I have cast in the five years that I've been in the Senate," he told about 50 supporters gathered at his McLean headquarters.
At the same time, Wilder's record for abortion rights is uneven. The abortion-rights league launched an advertising campaign in 1989 to assure that Wilder, and not staunch abortion foe Marshall Coleman, won the Virginia governor's seat. Most post-election analyses of that campaign concluded that Wilder's support for abortion rights was pivotal to his victory.
But many of the advocates who threw themselves and their money into his 1989 campaign were disappointed when Wilder wavered for weeks before vetoing a bill requiring notification of parents before an underage girl could have an abortion.
Michelman said the league was aware before his election of Wilder's support for parental notification and did not base this year's endorsement on that. Rather, she said, the organization is inclined to support a friendly incumbent.
For Robb, struggling to overcome years of negative publicity about his personal life, the endorsement is a step toward rebuilding the coalition that led him to the governor's mansion and the Senate.
"This is the first of a number of building blocks we're going to put together," he said.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB