Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, December 12, 1994 TAG: 9412140019
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GLENN K. DAVIDSON
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
On the surface, this would appear to be good news for Democrats. They survived the worst year for the party since Reconstruction pretty much intact. Their success could even lead some to look upon them as a model for future electoral successes. Those who are smart will look elsewhere.
If the Republicans hadn't fielded such a flawed candidate for U.S. Senate and if they hadn't so clearly divided themselves between their populist and libertarian wings, Virginia surely would have been engulfed by the same partisan sea change that overtook most states from Rhode Island to California. A united Republican Party would have, almost certainly, captured Virginia's U.S. Senate seat. It also could have picked up two or three more House seats.
Thankfully, Virginia Democrats don't carry the liberal baggage of our national counterparts. They have wisely steered clear of liberal orthodoxy and promoted a more moderate platform. Nevertheless, the party holds within it the same seeds of destruction that uprooted its national leaders this year. And unless Democrats accept the hard-earned lessons of the Mary Sue Terry debacle of 1993 and make the necessary reforms, they will have much to pay in future elections.
So what needs fixing in the party?
Virginia Democrats, it seems, have a tendency to eat their own for lunch. Rather than focus their attentions on the reactionary and sometimes regressive policy pronouncements of partisan opponents, some have chosen instead to publicly attack their colleagues. As one fine sage put it, ``If you retreat when the enemy is not pursuing, you have no one to turn on but each other.''
That Democrats would run away from the superb record of Gov. Douglas Wilder, as they did in 1993, is stupid. Virginia Republicans had no substantive basis on which to criticize the Democrats, as they were the party of thrift and efficiency. Instead, the Republicans used personal differences to further divide the Democrats, and the Democrats allowed them. With the coming together of Sen. Charles Robb and Wilder, the party now has an unprecedented opportunity for healing, and it should use it.
Women and African-Americans have long been the core of the party. Recent election statistics prove it: Chuck Robb received but 35 percent of the white male vote. Clearly, he owes his re-election to women and African-Americans. Yet, time after time, Democrats have failed to embrace them and promote their interests within the party. All too frequently, the Democrats wait until it's almost too late in the election cycle to make their appeal. And sometimes, as in the case of statewide elections in 1993, the appeal comes too late.
These slights must stop. It's high time for an African-American and/or woman to become chairman of the party. Perhaps then, its core supporters would get the recognition, respect and attention they deserve.
Lacking the rock-solid precinct operations of the Democrats, Republicans have sought to win elections by spending heavily - and they have been largely successful at it. Subsequently, many of our state's political reporters have been led to believe that money is the most important ingredient in a campaign; their reports suggest that the more one has in his campaign coffer, the more likely he will win the election.
Influenced by such reports, Democrats began focusing more attention on raising money than on grass-roots organization, and precinct operations suffered as a result. But if the Terry campaign taught the party anything, it is that money can't buy an election. If Democrats are to continue to win elections, they must continually build and energize their most local operations.
Virginia Democrats also have begun to lose their populist appeal. Maybe it's because they've been in power so long, but it seems Virginia Democrats are becoming somewhat elitists, protecting the status quo rather than the interests of the people. Again, it's time they got back to their roots and acted upon what the people want, not what the special interests want. They need to broaden their appeal and include those who have felt unwanted or not part of the system.
Again, Democrats were lucky this year. If the state's GOP hadn't nominated someone with felony convictions in his past, the party's electoral losses probably would have been greater. However, in future years - 1995, 1996 and 1997 - Virginia Democrats cannot rely on the Republicans to mess up. They should expect to face candidates who are more appealing to moderates and less divisive than Oliver North.
Democrats came together this year to defeat North and maintain their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. But their success may be short-lived unless they stay together and fix their problems. Otherwise, Virginia Democrats will become the minority in the General Assembly after 1995 and may be consigned to minority representation in Virginia's congressional delegation in 1996.
Glenn K. Davidson, who served as former Gov. Douglas Wilder's communications director and later chief of staff during his administration, managed Wilder's U.S. Senate campaign and later served as a ``get out the vote'' consultant to the Democratic Party of Virginia.
by CNB