Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 15, 1994 TAG: 9406160009
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By ADRIENNE PETTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
"When he was campaigning for student government, he gave out chewing gum," she said. "I still have my stick in the top drawer in my mama's house."
Aside from the cheery ring of Lazenby's voice, most people in downtown Rocky Mount kept their enthusiasm for their hometown candidate low-key as they shuffled in and out of the polls.
The same was true of voters in precincts throughout the county, but there were plenty of them.
That's what counted to Goode.
"A vote in Franklin County counts as much as a vote in Fairfax," Goode said in his celebrated twang.
Goode knew he must count heavily on those votes if he were to have any chance of unseating incumbent Sen. Charles Robb. Early on, things were going his way.
By 8 a.m., voters at Goode's home precinct in Rocky Mount, the Virginia National Guard Armory, had cast 60 ballots in Tuesday's primary, the first statewide Democratic primary in 17 years.
In Fairfax County's largest precinct, only 24 ballots had been cast.
The Goode trend continued in the Fork Mountain precinct, which had seen 130 voters by 11:30 a.m. About 80 voters typically turn out on regular election days,
"We had one [voter] who hadn't voted in so long that his name wasn't even on the roll," said Berlin Hanks, a Fork Mountain precinct worker. "But he came to see if he could vote."
For the first time in years, the down-to-earth, hard-working folk here are keyed up for politics, giving themselves an extra 30 minutes to vote before putting in a day at factories and farms, or swinging by between doctors' appointments and errands, hoping to send their favorite son to Washington.
"I voted for Virgil because I know he recognizes the needs of the little man, and that's what you have around here," said Ronald Prillaman, 23, a recent Radford University graduate who is job hunting.
Kathryn Copeland, 27, an elementary school teacher, thinks Goode will push for better education in this part of the state, an issue she's most concerned about. Her brother Bob Brown, who was Goode's campaign manager when he ran for class president at Franklin County High School, has worked to drum up support for Goode in Falls Church, where he now lives.
"Knowing Goode and feeling more like he's a hometown boy made people want to support him," she said.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB