Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 5, 1994 TAG: 9411080014
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But Virginians similarly repulsed by North's candidacy, and considering a vote for Coleman on Tuesday, should keep in mind a hard truth: A vote for Coleman makes North's election more likely.
Handed a sterling opportunity to take over a U.S. Senate seat from a damaged Democratic incumbent, state Republicans instead nominated perhaps the only public figure in Virginia who, on the character question, could make Charles Robb look good.
Coleman, a former Republican attorney general and gubernatorial nominee, and Warner, Virginia's senior senator and the leading GOP vote-getter in state history, just said no. Armed with Warner's declaration that North is unfit for office, Coleman is running as an independent.
Neither he nor Warner have much to gain personally. The move almost surely has bought the Senator, campaigning at Coleman's side on this last weekend before the election, a tough renomination fight in 1996. Coleman has poured energy, time and $200,000 of his own money into a campaign that was a long shot from the start.
Other Republicans, veterans of the Reagan administration whose knowledge of North comes not from television, fund-raiser mailings and political rallies, but from real life, also have denounced North. But most GOP officeholders in Virginia have "slithered," to use former Republican Gov. Linwood Holton's term, toward the North camp. Among them are a number who express worries ... in private.
Perhaps the smell of North's campaign cash cow is too sweet for a pol to resist. Or maybe it's fear of retribution if the party line isn't toed. Or maybe they're confused: Virginia, after all, isn't accustomed to lawbreakers running for office. That has been more the specialty of places like Chicago, Louisiana and the District of Columbia. Or maybe they're willing to overlook North's failings because he's a charismatic spokesman for the anti-government sentiments they share.
Whatever the case, it's too late for Republicans to take back the nomination. And Coleman, it is now clear, will finish a rather distant third. A vigorous - even courageous - attempt to halt the tide of political pollution, to resist the corruption of conservative values, has not vaulted Coleman into contention.
Worse, Coleman's continued presence in the race, the polls now show, is boosting North's chances, because Coleman supporters prefer Robb as their second choice by an overwhelming margin. The political world can be cruelly ironic.
"We don't see any difference between stopping North or stopping Robb," said a Coleman spokesman this week. There's a big difference.
To call at this late date for Coleman to withdraw would be fatuous; to expect him to do so, unrealistic. Nor is it necessarily true that a vote is "wasted" when cast for a candidate almost certain not to win.
But prospective Coleman voters for whom Robb is the second choice (that is, most Coleman supporters) face an unenviable decision. They should know that a congratulatory ballot for the candidate they prefer most could well facilitate election of the candidate they prefer least.
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POLITICS
by CNB