Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 15, 1994 TAG: 9406170177
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The curmudgeonly Willey, a Democrat, genuinely disliked Coleman as a young Republican whippersnapper. B ut the "most dangerous" comment was a backhanded compliment to the pit-bull ferocity brought by Coleman to all his campaigns - for the General Assembly; for attorney general; for governor twice, including a 1989 upset victory in a three-way Republican primary.
With the last, Coleman shed the "loser" image that had haunted him after losing the 1981 gubernatorial election to Democrat Charles Robb - but only temporarily. He got the image back when he lost the general election, by a whisker, to Douglas Wilder.
Coleman, now 52, is no longer a "young" whippersnapper. Nor, this time, is he a Republican candidate. Running now as an independent, he is the symbol of the Virginia GOP's tumultuous split over the nomination of Iran-Contra figure Oliver North.
Coleman has the campaign skills, but does he also have the old tenacity to take on North, Robb and Wilder? More importantly, how should Virginia voters respond to a candidate who can so expeditiously reinvent himself, depending on circumstances and his opponents, and who - unabashedly this time - is basing his hopes on disunity?
Coleman, reared in Staunton, began his career as a son and exponent of Virginia Republicanism's wing of mountain-valley moderates. He later made 100-yard dashes to the right; today, he is pitching himself as a moderate alternative to right-winger North, and a candidate without the personal foibles of Democrat Robb and Democrat-turned-independent Wilder.
He may do well in his new campaign mode, especially with U.S. Sen. John Warner - another GOP dissenter from the North nomination - in his corner. But while Coleman is a smart, energetic and resourceful politician, he must keep in mind that shedding his loser's image isn't what's important to most Virginians.
by CNB