Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 5, 1994 TAG: 9406050072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WARREN FISKE and MARGARET EDDS STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long
"Whose side are you on?" the former Iran-Contra figure demanded in a riveting convention speech denouncing Congress, the media and Washington insiders.
The 50-year-old former Marine likened his mission to that of the U.S. troops who invaded Normandy a half-century ago. "This time, the beachhead we need to seize is not on some distant shore," he said. "It is across the Potomac . . . in Washington.
"This time, there is only one hill that we must take: Capitol Hill."
North won 55.2 percent of the 8,800 delegate votes cast in competition with former federal budget director Jim Miller, setting the stage for what may be the most tumultuous Senate race in Virginia history.
North's victory is likely to guarantee the entry of Republican former Attorney General Marshall Coleman into the fall contest as an independent. A spokesman said Coleman has gathered enough signatures to appear on November ballots and will begin making calls today to several hundred former political supporters to solicit advice.
Former Gov. Douglas Wilder, a Democrat, also is threatening to enter the fray as an independent, particularly if his arch rival, U.S. Sen. Charles Robb, wins the June 14 Democratic primary.
The possibility of the chaotic four-candidate race, overlaid with allegations of sexual misconduct, lying to Congress and crass opportunism, left political scientists mystified over who would win in November.
"It takes us into a very complicated fall situation," said Thomas Morris, the president of Emery & Henry College. "Any one of the four could win."
Despite pleas for unity from Miller and other GOP officials, many Miller delegates left the convention hall unwilling to commit to North. Several said a Republican loyalty oath they were forced to sign to be seated wasn't worth the paper it was written on.
"I don't think I'll be able to support him," said David Mikula, a graphic designer from Roanoke. "He has a hard time telling the truth."
Others, noting that polls show 50 percent of Virginia voters dislike North, said they are worried that he can't win this fall. "I'll vote for him," said Nancy Spigle of Roanoke County. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to give him everything I own and knock on every door."
Many North supporters acknowledged that Miller might have been the safer nominee. But they said they are willing to take the risk because they believe North will make a stronger statement in Washington.
Thousands of delegates backing North jubilantly celebrated his victory as a call to arms. "I feel great," said Fida Kidd, a former teacher and homemaker in Fluvanna County. "We want control of our government. We're tired of government taking over our lives."
"We're ready to take on Bill Clinton and Chuck Robb," said Michael Merredith of Rockingham County. "Oliver North is an anti-establishment candidate. That's what people are looking for."
The victory brings North almost full circle from 1987, when he was convicted of three felonies stemming from his involvement in the Iran-Contra affair: tampering with documents, impeding Congress and accepting an illegal gratuity. Those convictions later were overturned on a technicality.
While some saw his actions as outrageous, others saw him as a patriotic hero who gallantly followed orders from the president and faced down the Washington power structure. "The Democrats did not reckon on the steely presence of this former Marine," former state party Chairman Don Huffman of Roanoke said in his nominating speech. "They stared at him and he stared right back."
Although North asked for unity, there was nothing conciliatory about his message or style. "What we begin today is more than just another political campaign," he said. "For we seek nothing less than a fundamental shift in the balance of power in Washington and around this nation."
Throughout the spring campaign, North invited supporters to participate in a we-vs.-them cultural war against homosexuals in the military, abortion rights and intrusive government. In accepting his nomination, North sought to turn blame that he is divisive back on his critics, including U.S. Sen. John Warner, a Republican.
"The Washington power brokers sling all the mud, hurl vicious charges against us, and then say we're dividing this party," he said.
Supporters accused the media of distorting North's past and his conservative Christian views. "I've never seen the national media trash a candidate like they've trashed Oliver North," said Patrick Mullens, chairman of the Fairfax County Republicans, in a nominating speech.
North declined to answer questions from reporters after his victory.
North's strongest support was from rural southern and western parts of the state. He won 69 percent of the combined vote from three congressional districts in those regions, and it provided him with his margin of victory.
Miller carried four of the state's 11 congressional districts, including one in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, two in Northern Virginia and one in the Charlottesville area.
Although Coleman was never mentioned from the podium, he was as much a target of the bashing by delegates as any of the potential Democratic candidates. Many expressed outrage that Coleman, who was the GOP nominee for governor in 1981 and 1989, might abandon his party.
"His ego is only matched by Chuck Robb's sex drive," quipped Mike Farris, the 1993 Republican nominee for lieutenant governor. He was referring to allegations of womanizing that have dogged Robb in recent years.
Democrats scrambled to take advantage of the dissension among Republicans. Both Wilder and state Sen. Virgil Goode of Franklin County, who is opposing Robb in the June 14 primary, issued invitations for disaffected Republicans to join them.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB