Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 14, 1994 TAG: 9411140086
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANNE GEARAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: FREDERICKSBURG LENGTH: Long
North's loss was profound because it occurred in Virginia, where religious broadcasters Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell base their broad national ministries.
It was North's Iran-Contra baggage that kept him from unseating Democratic Sen. Charles Robb on Tuesday after a bitter campaign that focused on North's character and truthfulness, said Clyde Wilcox, a Georgetown University political scientist.
``People are saying the poster boy went down, does this mean the Christian right is dead? Absolutely not,'' said Wilcox, who is co-author of a forthcoming book on the Christian political movement in Virginia.
North carried the conservative precincts of Fredericksburg, where traffic officers sometimes divert overflow crowds from Spotswood Baptist Church's two Sunday services into the nearby parking lot of a movie theater.
He barely carried Virginia Beach, where Robertson's operation is based, and lost in conservative Lynchburg, Falwell's hometown. He squeaked by in Chesapeake, home of the Christian Coalition - the powerful conservative lobbying group spawned by Robertson's unsuccessful 1988 presidential bid.
Three weeks before Tuesday's election, North drew thunderous applause at a packed rally near Fredericksburg when he held aloft a Bible and declared ``every word in this book is true.''
``Amen, amen,'' responded many in the crowd culled from fundamentalist churches in the area.
North made religion a centerpiece of his campaign in much the same way that another failed Virginia candidate did last year. Michael Farris, a Republican home schooling advocate and evangelical Christian, lost a close race for lieutenant governor.
Farris said Democratic attacks on him amounted to religious bigotry and scare tactics. In the North race, Democratic Sen. Charles Robb was careful not to offend churchgoers with specific criticism of North's religious beliefs.
``I think the Democrats learned something,'' said Mike Russell, spokesman for the Christian Coalition.
Russell, too, chalks North's loss up to Iran-Contra.
``The North campaign was the most publicized and politicized campaign in America,'' Russell said. ``Iran-Contra became a character flaw and he just couldn't get past it.''
North was convicted of three felonies in the Reagan-era arms-for-hostages scandal, but the convictions were overturned on appeal.
Candidates won nationwide with platforms friendly to religious conservatives, and religious conservatives turned out in force to wrest control of both the House and Senate from Democrats for the first time in 40 years.
A national telephone survey conducted for the Christian Coalition shows a surge in participation by white evangelical born-again voters, the group said.
The same voters were the core of North's support. At prayer meetings and church socials, North urged Christian voters off the back pews.
But no matter how energized, those voters remain a minority in Virginia and nationwide. To get elected, North needed to broaden his base, and that's where his close tie with the evangelical movement probably hurt him, Wilcox said.
Nationally, candidates did best when they endorsed many of the ``family values'' themes popular with the Christian right but did not have strong personal links to the movement, Wilcox said.
``People are a little nervous about a strong role for religion in political life,'' Wilcox said. ``On a national basis, every time you see a candidate with really, really close ties to the Christian right, those candidates usually lose. But if a candidate endorses those positions without being a practicing member, they can often benefit from Christian right support.''
According to the Christian Coalition analysis, religious conservatives accounted for 33 percent of the national vote Tuesday - a record. The constituency voted about 69 percent for Republicans at the national level and 71 percent Republican in gubernatorial races, the study shows.
By this account, of the approximately 50 seats the Republicans gained, about 38 were won by candidates who embraced religious conservative themes.
Among Tuesday's victorious candidates the coalition considers ``pro-life, pro-family'' were John Kyl in Arizona, Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania and Mike DeWine in Ohio.
Sixty-four percent of those surveyed in the coalition's poll said they were more likely to vote for a candidate who pledged to help return America to traditional moral values. Twenty percent said that pledge would make no difference and 15 percent said it would make them less likely to vote for the candidate.
The analysis of 1,000 actual voters was conducted by Market Research Institute and Luntz Research Co. and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
The Christian Coalition does not endorse candidates, but generally agrees with conservative Republicans on issues such as prayer in schools, abortion, parental role in education and gays in the military.
Those issues were among 10 the group used to rate the three candidates in the Virginia senate race in a ``Voter Guide,'' distributed to thousands of churchgoers the Sunday before the election.
by CNB