ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, June 24, 1996 TAG: 9606240020
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL CONNELLY AND MARK RUSH
WHEN ALL else fails, blame someone else. The polls had barely closed the other week when apologists for the hard-line conservative wing of the Virginia Republican Party began concocting mythic explanations for Jim Miller's loss to John Warner.
They blamed Democrats and independents for voting in the primary; blamed Warner for his campaign finance and incumbency advantages; they blamed everyone but themselves. So what else is new?
Fact is, little but Warner's popularity can explain his trouncing of Miller. While a number of Democrats may have voted in the GOP primary, some may have voted for Miller in hopes of nominating the weaker Republican candidate for November's general election.
Conservative apologists contend that Warner's courting of Democrats was designed to offset the influence of the Christian Right. Nonetheless, exit polls showed that, throughout the state, Warner defeated Miller in virtually every group - including religious conservatives, opponents of gun control and supporters of Oliver North. Subtract Democrats' votes, and Warner still would have won handily.
Thus, Warner's success illustrated the yawning gap between the rank-and-file members of the conservative and religious wing of the GOP and their elite leaders. Despite their outspoken support for Miller and their enlisting the help of Oliver North in their cause, the conservative and religious elite were unable to deliver the votes of their own constituents. After the election, Mike Farris complained, ``I feel like I've just been told to go sit in the back of the bus.'' If so, he was told to do so by the same rank-and-file voters who supported him in 1993.
Thus, folks like Farris, North, Pat McSweeney and former chairman Don Huffman have proven that, while they can do well in the small, controlled environment of a convention, their track record is abysmal when it comes to courting the loyalties of the Republican rank and file, not to mention the entire Virginia electorate. It is a sad commentary that their strategy hinged on low voter turnout.
A more sober assessment of Miller's demise will indicate that he did not help his cause by changing from a Reagan Republican into a Christian Coalition and NRA standard-bearer. By taking up arms with this party faction, Miller made a Faustian bargain with the same folks who lambasted him two years ago when he challenged North.
In a recent interview in The Roanoke Times, Don Huffman and Trixie Averill wrote off their flip-flopping as little more than playing the political game. While this may fly with some party elites, the performance of the electorate in the Republican primary indicates that the voters are not willing to follow their leaders blindly.
Of course, the hard-line conservative wing is but one part of the Republican Party. Unfortunately, it seems that the party, under the leadership of outgoing chairman Pat McSweeney, forgot that successful parties are big-tent organizations that manage to build bridges among their competing factions. They manage conflict instead of seeking to resolve it by taking one side or the other.
Under McSweeney, the party leadership drifted steadily to the right and has little to show for it except several years of infighting, division and the disastrous candidacies of North and Farris.
Those who would lead the Virginia GOP would do well to learn from someone who knows how to build a majority party. Speaker Newt Gingrich once observed that a successful political party must accommodate a certain amount of pluralism:
``[We] have to recognize ... that we are in the business of conflict management. We are not in the business of conflict resolution. You only resolve conflicts by kicking people out, and that means you become a minority. So, if you intend to be a majority, you have to be willing to live with a lot of conflict because that is the nature of a majority.''
Nonetheless, the GOP is leading a charmed existence. Despite several years of suicidal infighting, the party still finds itself on the verge of gaining control of the General Assembly. Fortunately, the Democrats are still suffering from the effects of battles among Mary Sue Terry, Doug Wilder and Chuck Robb. Thanks to the Democrats, Virginia Republicans continue to win elections.
The factional infighting within the two parties at times seems like a contest between dumb and dumber. As a result, the GOP has managed to hold its ground despite its raging internecine warfare.
As well, despite the baseness of the primary campaign between Warner and Miller, the Republicans still managed to nominate the candidate who, by all counts, is more likely to defeat the Democratic challenger.
Clearly, moderates need the conservatives, but it is even more obvious that the extreme needs the mainstream. As George Allen's victory proved, a winning coalition for the Virginia GOP must be broad-based and inclusive. Appeals to revenge and resentment are doomed to fail.
Virginia Republicans would do well to heed the admonition of that greatest of Republican leaders, Abraham Lincoln, by appealing to ``the better angels of our nature.''
Building a natural Republican majority in Virginia must begin by abjuring all exercises in self-delusion. It's time to wake up. No more excuses.
Bill Connelly and Mark Rush teach politics at Washington and Lee University.
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICSby CNB