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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 1, 1994                   TAG: 9406010087
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

WARNER HINTS HE MAY ABANDON REPUBLICANS

Sen. John Warner said he actively will support an independent Senate bid by fellow Republican Marshall Coleman if Oliver North wins the GOP nomination Saturday, and he may even renounce the party by seeking re-election in 1996 as an independent.

Virginia's senior senator said he has been encouraging Coleman, a former state attorney general, to mount an independent campaign because he finds North unfit to hold public office.

And although Warner has made no final decision, he said he will not allow the conservatives who support North to prevent him from running again in two years.

"I will find a way of getting my name in front of the voters of Virginia," he said. "I hope to do it through the party structure. But a small, tiny group is not going to stop me."

Warner will not attend the party convention in Richmond this weekend; he participate in ceremonies commemorating the 50th anniversary of D-Day on the beaches of Normandy.

Warner's blunt remarks are the clearest sign yet that the ideological schism caused by North's candidacy likely will widen in coming months. The prospect of a Warner defection in two years could shatter the party unity fostered by Republican Gov. George Allen's unexpected victory last fall.

There also is evidence that Warner commands a much stronger political position than the hail of criticism directed at him in recent weeks suggests.

Although GOP conservatives are furious with him for disparaging North, senior Republicans and Democrats say Warner's popularity with the general public has soared. According to political strategists, numerous private polls show that most voters consider his statements gutsy. Warner's approval ratings are the highest of any elected official in Virginia.

Political analysts said that even though Coleman has lost two statewide races since he was elected attorney general in 1977, an energetic effort by Warner could help make him a serious contender.

"John Warner has the ability to transfer some of his popularity to a centrist Republican candidate like Marshall Coleman," said Mark J. Rozell, a political scientist at Mary Washington College. "North has a strong base, but his major problem is broadening that base. He needs the support of moderates, and Marshall Coleman would cut into that."

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB