ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 2, 1996 TAG: 9606030091
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WARREN FISKE AND ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITERS
note: lede
With the Marine Corps Hymn blaring, Oliver North made a dramatic return to state politics Saturday and urged Republican leaders to dump U.S. Sen. John Warner - the party's senior elected official.
North blamed Warner for a series of slights that added up, he said, to an "unconscionable" betrayal of the party and urged the election of former federal budget director Jim Miller in the June 11 Republican primary.
"Whose side are you on?'' North thundered, repeating the theme of his speech accepting the party's U.S. Senate nomination two years ago. "Are you on the side of those who put their personal political fortunes ahead of all of us? Or are you on the side of those who have labored to build a party based on the conservative values and virtuous principles of our forbearers?''
North spoke at the Republican State Convention where, hours later, 76 percent of the delegates backed Miller in a straw poll of their preference for the Senate.
Although the day's events were cathartic for Republican leaders - many of whom have been angry at Warner for opposing North's 1994 U.S. Senate bid - their impact on next Tuesday's election is uncertain.
Several Miller supporters said the endorsement will rally North's legion of conservative loyalists to turn out for Miller at the polls. There was also hope North could help the cash-strapped campaign raise money. North, who amassed a record $20 million in contributions for his 1994 campaign, said he is sending out a fund-raising letter on Miller's behalf.
But there is also risk for Miller. The primary is open to all voters, and some Republicans are worried that North's emergence could become a rallying cry for Democrats and independents to enter the fray and vote for Warner.
"It might hurt, if you think about it," said Jack Neely, a Portsmouth delegate. "A majority of Virginians didn't vote for him two years ago."
North said he considered that possibility before deciding this week to come out strongly for Miller. He said he decided to speak out after being urged to do so by Patrick McSweeney, who stepped down as state party chairman Saturday.
Warner, who did not attend the convention, spent the day campaigning in Blacksburg and Staunton. In 1994, he questioned North's honesty and said the former Iran-Contra figure was unfit for office. Many Republicans hold those actions and Warner's support of an independent candidate responsible for North's narrow defeat to Democrat Charles Robb.
"This convention can be summed up as Jim Miller's feel-good day," said John Hishta, Warner's campaign manager. "Tomorrow, he'll have to wake up to reality. That reality is getting his message out to the public."
North portrayed Warner as a remote Washington insider "who has lined his pockets with hundreds of thousands of dollars from special interest groups." He was referring to Warner's acceptance of $215,000 in campaign contributions this year from political action committees.
He described Warner as an enemy in the cultural war many conservative and evangelical Republicans are fighting on social issues. He cited Warner's sometimes inconsistent voting record on abortion and his 1987 vote against the ill-fated nomination of Robert H. Bork to the Supreme Court.
"These two sides engaged in this competition are engaged in a struggle of dramatically different visions about the future of our country and the role our government should play," he said.
With a spirit reminiscent of his failed bid for office in 1994, much of the crowd greeted North with unrestrained enthusiasm - particularly when he pledged to seek statewide office in the future.
"With the people who are here right now, I think that if Ollie North had said he wanted the nomination himself, they would have given it to him," said David Hummel, chairman of the 2nd Congressional District in Norfolk and Virginia Beach. "He's still that popular."
Some Warner supporters in the crowd, however, were dismayed by the pounding North gave the senator before his own party. "All this makes me so mad that all I want to do is get home and work harder for the senator," said Sally Gregg of Richmond.
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON STAFF Oliver North (left), U.S. Senateby CNBhopeful Jim Miller (center) and Mike Farris (right) take the stage
at the Virginia Republican convention in Salem on Saturday. color KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESS