Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 29, 1994 TAG: 9411290120
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 VIRGINIA EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALEC KLEIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
As the world turned Monday, Gov. George Allen met privately with 20 state Republican leaders in the name of party unity.
The goal: a Republican takeover of the General Assembly in next November's elections, following on the heels of this month's GOP sweep in Washington.
All 140 seats will be up for grabs in the Richmond capitol; Democrats hold a slim margin in both chambers: 22 to 18 in the Senate, 52 to 47 in the House of Delegates (with one independent).
"I'm pleased we're all going forward in the same direction," Allen said after emerging from the hour-long meeting in the governor's mansion.
All appeared to go swimmingly as those at the gathering sipped on coffee around a long table in the mansion dining room. They agreed to focus on winning control of the state house in 1995 rather than dwell on two tantalizing campaigns in 1996: the presidential race and the fight for U.S. Sen. John Warner's seat.
"There was no quibbling, really," said Del. Vance Wilkins, House minority leader.
"Haven't seen that many smiles in a room in a long time," said Scott Leake, executive director of the Joint Republican Caucus.
For all of the apparent goodwill, Republicans have a few wrinkles to iron out. For one, Allen and Pat McSweeney, chairman of the state GOP party, have yet to patch things up in a long-running feud. Said the governor: "My views as far as Pat McSweeney, they haven't changed, but that doesn't preclude us from working together in 1995."
Even more, some party leaders are still smarting over Warner, the state's senior Republican, who refused to back GOP nominee Mike Farris in last year's race for lieutenant governor and campaigned actively against Oliver North, the party's choice in this year's Senate race.
Warner's actions have invited a bevy of potential GOP challengers to his re-election. Among them are Farris, a home-schooling advocate; and Jim Miller, a former Reagan budget director who lost this year's Senate nomination to North.
Miller attended Monday's private gathering and Farris was represented by his aide, Doug Domenech. Warner strolled out of the meeting, unfazed: "The governor showed tremendous leadership," he said. "... '95's the goal."
There was one notable absence among the GOP luminaries: Ollie North.
"He's not making any public [comments] for a little while, but he sent me with a message of rebuilding our party," said North emissary Mark Merritt.
North has yet to say whether he will climb back into the political ring. "He's not putting anything on the table," Merritt said, "or taking anything off the table."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB