Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 8, 1995 TAG: 9506080055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
If they can't find anyone to oppose Republican Del. Steve Newman, it could mean no choice for voters and a free seat for Republicans, who are hoping for a majority in the Senate next year.
For the most part, Democrats aren't saying much. They're supposed to nominate a candidate Saturday, but no one has decided to run.
"We haven't been able to nail anyone down," said Ray Perkins, chairman of the Lynchburg Democratic Party. "We feel pretty confident we're going to field a candidate, but there is always the outside chance we may not have anyone."
Bedford County Democratic Party Chairman Michael Mays said he was sure the party would have a candidate. "We've got some real credible people we're talking to," he said. "So I'm confident we'll find somebody."
After longtime Democratic Sen. Elliot Schewel's surprise retirement announcement this year, party leaders began trying to find someone to run in his heavily conservative district.
By all accounts, it hasn't been easy.
Bedford Mayor Mike Shelton decided against running, he said, because it would have taken too much time away from his family.
Lynchburg lawyer Ed Burnette also considered running. Both Democrats and Republicans encouraged him, but Burnette, who says he has never been active in politics, declined for personal reasons.
State Republican Party spokesman Scott Leake has his own explanation for the Democrats' difficulties in finding a candidate. "First-rate candidates are not looking forward to being sacrificial lambs, or to the prospect of coming into the first Democratic minority in the General Assembly since the War Between the States," he said.
If Republicans can win three additional seats this year, they will have a majority in the Senate. Schewel's seat is one they've targeted as winnable.
"You'll forgive me if I don't gloat yet," Newman said. But, he added, Democrats "can't win dog catcher in the current environment, and that's probably laying heavy on their souls."
The Lynchburg area is considered Republican territory, and Bedford County has voted Republican in every state and federal election for the past five years.
Schewel, who generally was considered liberal, held onto the seat only because of extreme voter loyalty and a conservative image.
"I think the sentiment among politically aware people was that it was a Republican seat except for Schewel," said Ray Garland, a political columnist and former Republican legislator from Roanoke. "Schewel was essentially a liberal ... but as a Democrat in this district, he had to be careful how he flaunted that."
To present a challenge to Newman, Garland said, the Democrats would need a dynamic candidate who could present the same conservative "low-key, button-down" image that Schewel has.
Shelton, the Bedford mayor, said, "I think it is vitally important that we find a strong candidate to run against [Newman], because people need that choice." He said Newman has extreme views that would not accurately represent the majority of thinking in the district.
He also criticized Newman's "unerring" support for Gov. George Allen's proposed budget cuts. And many in Bedford and Bedford County, including Shelton, have condemned Newman's proposed Lynchburg no-annexation agreement as political grandstanding.
Newman said he'll continue to fight as if he had an opponent until he knows for sure. But he conceded that the Democrats' late decision making has caused some problems for him in fund raising and strategy.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB