ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 12, 1995 TAG: 9512120064
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
IN AGREEING to hold a primary next year to determine their U.S. Senate nominee, Virginia Republican leaders have made the right move - if for less than ideal reasons.
Now, it's the Democrats' turn, at a party committee meeting this weekend, to decide whether they'll employ a primary or a convention to nominate their Senate candidate. They, too, should opt for a primary.
The GOP agreed to the primary, as requested by incumbent Sen. John Warner, under an unusual Virginia law that allows the incumbent to call for one. He will presumably face James Miller, the former federal budget director in the Reagan administration.
Virginia Democrats should also use a primary to decide their nomination battle, shaping up as a contest between former state party Chairman Mark Warner and former U.S. Rep. Leslie Byrne. If self-interest is their guide, they will do so: Having been chosen in a primary would give either Warner or Miller a leg up against a Democratic candidate chosen at a convention.
More important, primaries for at least major offices would be good for Virginia's political health. The best-attended state nominating convention draws far fewer participants than even a low-turnout primary. Encouraging citizen involvement in politics is a key challenge for both parties these days, and primaries are one way to do it.
Not all the Republican committee members who voted to hold a primary are backing John Warner, opposed by some in the GOP because of his refusal to support Oliver North in last year's Senate election. Some committee members favored primaries as a matter of principle; others didn't want to undertake the expense of an iffy court challenge to the Virginia law under which Warner called for the primary.
Whether a state can tell a political party that it must heed the wishes of an incumbent in deciding on a nomination procedure may be a constitutionally debatable issue. But a state can simply require primary elections regardless of an incumbent's wishes, and most do.
The 1996 General Assembly should take the primary-vs.-convention decision away from either the parties or incumbents; the assembly should make primaries the standing operating procedure for deciding nominations, at least for congressional, statewide and legislative offices. On this, the assembly should follow other states' lead; meanwhile, Virginia Democrats should follow the state GOP's.
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICSby CNB