Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 22, 1994 TAG: 9406240041
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Speaking for ourselves, we have problems with the sense of the Virginia GOP that Oliver North belongs on the ballot instead of on, say, a "Wanted" poster. Though his convictions were overturned on a technicality, North's documented offenses - lying to Congress, shredding evidence and the like - are of a sort that would normally render him unfit, as Sen. John Warner has suggested, to serve in the U.S. Senate.
We also have problems with the Republican convention process, which charged citizens for the privilege to vote. A primary would have drawn more participants to the ballot box, if less profit to the party apparatus.
Even so, you have to say this for North: He won his nomination fair and square.
The traditional GOP establishment looks down its collective nose, running in allergic reaction against North's legions, and laments their takeover of the party. But that's how democracy works: by the numbers. The grass-roots religious right, not just overlooking North's past but prizing it, isn't an uninvited guest at the party. It is the party, at least to the extent that conventions express a party's will.
A similar point applies to the Democratic incumbent, Charles Robb. Democrats have heard about the sins "inappropriate," confesses Robb, for a married man, not to mention for a governor. Democrats must be aware that the resulting constraints on Robb's national ambitions have relieved the rest of the country from exposure to a public speaking style awesome in its capacity to bore.
But they nominated Robb, and over reasonable opposition. If someone of the caliber of, say, former Gov. Gerald Baliles opted not to run, that is not a regret that can be left at Robb's door.
For all their faults, both North and Robb will represent their parties on the ballot, as well as themselves.
Now come Wilder, the former governor, and Coleman, the former attorney general and possibly future Harold Stassen of Virginia politics. They get on the ballot, legally, as independents. But what does their independence mean?
Wilder, don't forget, asked that his party hold a primary rather than a convention, the latter option at the time deemed advantageous for Robb. Wilder then grandly announced he would not run for the U.S. Senate. Now he's in, and his explanation for the turnabout - that he was "tired" when he initially withdrew, but has since been reinvigorated by an outpouring of pleas for him to run - is less than convincing.
In formally announcing his entry this week, Wilder cited his record: for example, his stewardship of the state's fiscal resources. His record stacks up well. But that just begs the question: Why didn't he pit it against Robb's during the primary campaign?
Coleman, the moderate Republican turned anti-abortion zealout turned moderate again, comes across, like Wilder, as a candidate seeking a kind of baptism by balloting - a personal, redemptive cleansing administered by Virginia voters. As a candidate less preposterous than North (not saying much), and seemingly connected at the elbow to Sen. Warner, Coleman should be taken seriously. He certainly deserves a place on the ballot as much as anyone who collects the necessary signatures.
But don't forget that he, like Wilder, circumvented the nominating process - not because he questioned his own party loyalty or the fairness of the nominating procedure but because, presumably, he knows he would have lost.
Unlike the nominees, both independents can claim records based, initially, more on personal accomplishment than on media celebrity. But their records also were built with the support of the parties they now bypass.
Coleman and Wilder are credible candidates, and may yet make a compelling case for why one or the other should be elected. But, lacking the legitimacy conferred by a nomination, they'll have to meet a higher threshold, pass a tougher test, to convince Virginia voters.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB