Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 25, 1995 TAG: 9509250003
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: AMHERST LENGTH: Long
Not too long ago, Barbara Coleman bumped into one of her recently graduated students when she pulled up to the drive-through window of the McDonald's in Madison Heights.
"She said she's got to wait until January [to go to college] because her grants didn't come through," Coleman said. "She could only afford to take one class at the community college."
It's that kind of familiar story that persuaded Coleman, a high school government teacher from Amherst County, to run against Republican Del. Steve Newman for the state Senate seat being vacated by the retirement of Lynchburg Democrat Elliot Schewel.
"When I talk to my kids and they say, `Ms. Coleman, I want to go to college, but I don't have the money,' I've always encouraged them to go to community college and transfer [later]," she said.
"But then I talked to the community college people and found out that the tuition has quadrupled. Those kids I used to tell that to, they can't even afford [community college] now.
"They're disenchanted. How do we expect them to get out and be productive citizens if they can't go [to college]?"
Coleman is the first to say she's not a politician. She's a teacher, and education is the primary issue she's running on.
For Coleman, who was the first black student at her high school when it was integrated, education is about providing opportunities. Just as she sowed tobacco seeds as a girl at her family farm in Halifax, she hopes to plant state money for education to reap a crop of better-educated students.
"It's an economic issue. It transcends race," she said. "If you don't have an adequate public education system, it's not just going to affect black students, it's going to affect all students. That's the way I teach and that's the way I run my campaign - on issues that affect all children."
Coleman sees a future Virginia where government works increasingly with private industry to support education. She ponders the possibilities of tax breaks or other incentives to get businesses more involved in providing funds, technology or training to Virginia schools.
In a year when state Republicans and Democrats are battling over whether to cut state spending or spend more on education, Democrats are hoping Coleman's message will push the right button with voters.
Even her supporters admit it's going to be an uphill battle.
When Schewel announced earlier this year that he was retiring, it prompted a frantic search for a candidate to run against Newman, who has a considerable support network built up in a Lynchburg-dominated district that's been voting heavily Republican in recent years.
The Democrats held a nominating convention, but no candidate stepped forward. Finally, just hours before the deadline to put a candidate on the ballot, the Democrats held an 11th-hour news conference and announced that Coleman had been nominated.
Coleman was an active Democrat for more than a decade, volunteering help for General Assembly and congressional campaigns and casting a ballot for Bill Clinton when she was a delegate at the 1992 Democratic National Convention. But she wasn't well known outside local political circles and had never run for public office.
"To be very honest, we were very glad at that stage that we got somebody who, while not necessarily being a winner, was a credible candidate and a potential winner," said Schewel, who calls Coleman a "very bright, extremely articulate candidate."
Lynchburg Republicans said the Democrats' selection of Coleman was like a football team picking its starting lineup from the bleachers.
Coleman didn't get much initial support after her late start. Contributions to her campaign were scant and came mostly from friends and Democratic committees. A $1,500 contribution from the Virginia Education Association last month almost doubled her campaign finances.
Most of her campaigning has been limited to weekends and after she finishes teaching on weekdays. She's talked to civic groups, campaigned door-to-door and at malls, and held a few fund-raisers with the help of prominent Democrats such as Rep. L.F. Payne of Nelson County, Lt. Gov. Don Beyer and former Gov. Gerald Baliles.
But she didn't have a campaign manager until August, when she hired a young husband-and-wife team from Blacksburg who have never managed a General Assembly race. Their only previous experience comes from managing commonwealth's attorney races in Montgomery County and working as campaign staffers for Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon.
Still, Coleman hasn't let her underdog status get her down, and some say her lack of political expertise may be just what voters are looking for.
"When I look at Steve Newman, his life has been politics," said Faye Smith, a former Amherst school teacher who taught with Coleman for 20 years. "He's not a person who's been out working in the field as a real person, and Barbara has.
"Where Steve Newman was in a private, sheltered school, she integrated her school. I see Barbara as a person who stands for the average person and not a select majority like Steve Newman.
"When I drive down the road and see him in his suit and tie on his billboards, and then I see Barbara out in her work clothes talking to people, I see a big difference. It's a grass-roots campaign because she's down in the grass and working dirt with everybody else."
Smith's brother, Rodney Taylor, is a former chairman of the Amherst County Democratic Party. He recalls seeing Coleman give "electrifying" speeches to the county Board of Supervisors in support of more local funding for schools when she was president of the local education association.
"The idea of having a teacher in the General Assembly is not a bad one," Taylor said. "The Republican Party has launched an all-out attack on education and Steve Newman is one of the ringleaders of that charge.
"Knowing Barbara has got a real battle in front of her, it's important to remember everything comes back to public education. Whether it's economic development or prison-building, all the issues have a core in public education.
"Barbara Coleman is going to be in Richmond the whole time she's down there fighting for her kids [students] and public education, and Steve Newman is going to be doing everything he can to gut it."
Coleman herself said, "I still hope that the people will be the driving force behind the legislation regardless of what party dominates.
"Maybe I'm a bit idealistic. People say you can't buck the system, but I'm going to start. I'm going there to represent what the people want."
BARBARA COLEMAN
Party: Democrat
Age: 44
Occupation: Teacher
Residence: Amherst County
Family: Single, no children.
WHAT THE CANDIDATE HAS TO SAY ABOUT HER:
CORE VALUES: "Honesty, approachability, sense of family ... I want people to feel if I'm elected, when I'm elected, they'll have access to their legislator, and their opinions will matter."
INDEPENDENCE: "I see myself being a traditional Virginia Democrat in that it's what the constituency votes. For example, it's hard to get Democrats to toe a party line and I think that's good. You need to think for yourself. If it comes down to a party stance and what the constituents needed back home ... I would pull toward the side of my constituents. I still hope that the people will be the driving force behind the legislation regardless of what party dominates. Maybe I'm a bit idealistic. People say you can't buck the system, but I'm going to start. I'm going there to represent what the people want."
VISION: Coleman wants to see more partnerships between government and business.
Keywords:
POLITICS PROFILE
by CNB