
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 1, 1995                   TAG: 9503010082
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA                                LENGTH: Short

GOP LEADER TO CHALLENGE WARNER?

The knives got longer in the Republican palace coup against Sen. John Warner this week, as the head of Warner's state party contemplated running against him.

Patrick McSweeney said he is seriously considering challenging Warner, Virginia's top GOP office holder.

``This is not a personal thing at all. It really has to do with the health of the party,'' McSweeney told The Washington Post.

He did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

``I have always welcomed all challengers in a Republican primary,'' Warner said Tuesday through a spokeswoman.

Warner campaign aide Jennifer Joy Wilson said McSweeney's entrance into the race would not be a surprise. The state GOP is in disarray, and McSweeney has not concealed his desire to toss Warner over the side in 1996.

For months, the Richmond lawyer has sniped at Warner, calling him a sometime Republican who shamed the party by refusing to back two controversial and conservative nominees.

Warner, a moderate, three-term incumbent, enraged conservative party activists by publicly disavowing Oliver North's unsuccessful bid for the Senate last year. A year earlier, Warner criticized the choice of home-schooling advocate Mike Farris for lieutenant governor. Farris also lost.

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB