ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, May 12, 1996 TAG: 9605130112
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER CHARLOTTESVILLE
DEMOCRATS STOOD in firm support of of the Rocky Mount man Saturday as their congressional nominee.
The two pieces of fried chicken and the cup of cole slaw on the table said more about Virgil Goode's day than the speeches and cheers.
The state senator from Rocky Mount was embraced by 5th District Democrats as their nominee for Congress at a party convention at Buford Middle School on Saturday. Goode will try to succeed Rep. L.F. Payne, D-Nelson County, who's retiring.
Goode shellacked his opponent, Edwin Powell, who entered the race late and couldn't organize quickly enough to mount a serious challenge.
Powell, a college professor who lives in Chase City, met with Goode prior to Saturday's convention and later pledged his support.
"Reporters have called me in the past few weeks and asked me what I think about Mr. Goode's association with the Republicans," Powell, 29, told the crowd. "Well, I didn't give them what they wanted. I will be supportive of the Democratic Party to the end."
After the meeting was over, Goode made his way to the cafeteria of the school, where party members were eating.
Goode grabbed a box lunch, moved toward a table and pulled out the chicken and cole slaw.
It would be an hour before he got to eat it.
As Goode got ready to sit down, a Martinsville woman approached, grabbed Goode's arm and asked: "How's your mother?''
Then a Danville woman made her way over to him and said, "Virgil, can you make it to our festival in the park next weekend?''
Soon after that, two more women approached. One patted the other on the back, looked at Goode, and said: "Virgil, I went to high school with her."
Goode, a full-time politician since he was elected a state senator 22 years ago, took it all in stride.
He smiled, greeted everybody by name, shook hands, and seemed to make everybody happy without saying a whole lot.
But that's Goode's way, and that's what makes him so popular among the voters in his home county of Franklin and other parts of Southside Virginia.
Now others in the 5th District are catching on.
"Virgil's not afraid to take a stand, even if it's a little controversial. We know that in the state Senate," said Sen. Emily Couric, D-Charlottesville, referring to Goode's push for power-sharing between Republicans and Democrats this year.
"With Virgil, what you see is what you get," she said.
George King, a convention delegate from Charlottesville who cast his ballot for Goode, said he had doubts about the candidate at first.
Goode is about as conservative as a Democrat can get.
He's pro-gun, pro-tobacco and anti-abortion.
But King said other issues that he agrees with Goode on - such as increasing jobs and holding the line on cuts to Medicaid - are more important.
Plus, King said, Charlottesville Democratic leaders assured him that Goode was their man.
"This town is such a Democratic enclave. If somebody had a problem with Virgil Goode, then no one would have showed up today. There would have been a skeleton crew here," he said.
Goode said he's looking forward to the campaign, and was planning to drive from Charlottesville to Charlotte County to attend a political function Saturday night.
"Always on the road," said the slim and trim Goode, who will turn 50 in October.
Goode said he has always had his eye on a run for Congress, and wanted to do so in 1988 - the year Payne was elected - but his daughter was against it.
Goode secured the 116 delegates required for nomination halfway through the roll call vote of the 5th's 21 localities. At that point, Powell had only one announced delegate from Charlottesville.
To close his acceptance speech, Goode sent a strong message to anyone who thinks he's teetering between political parties.
"If you're looking for somebody that's going to be a goose-stepper in the army of Newt Gingrich, then don't vote for me," he said.
Strains of James Brown's "I Feel Good" then filled the middle school auditorium.
Goode, Powell and Payne joined hands and raised their arms as the crowd roared its approval.
Republicans will nominate their candidate at a convention Saturday in Forest; Albemarle County lawyer George Landrith is considered the favorite over Mecklenburg County Del. Frank Ruff and Campbell County businessman Ron Buchanan.
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Goode. color. KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESSby CNB