ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996 TAG: 9608120062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SAN DIEGO
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Above
MORE THAN 100 delegates have taken residents' concerns west to San Diego.
In a highway hotel, soaked in a California haze and circled by palm trees, 106 people are slowly gathering to pour Virginia's fuel into the engine of American politics.
Their motivation, they say, is our children. And our jobs and our livelihoods. And to preserve that most basic of comforts - simply being a Virginian without fear of crime or poverty or oppression.
The Virginia delegates and alternates at this week's Republican National Convention - and their Democratic counterparts headed for Chicago in two weeks - avow essentially the same hopes and vision as the 61/2 million Virginians they represent, according to polls of the groups.
The same, but for one very salient departure: The delegates think they can do something about it.
As Republicans begin their quadrennial feast of politics this week, culminating Thursday in the nomination of Bob Dole and Jack Kemp as their marquee contestants, the host city oozes with a spirit of duty and optimism. Two-thirds of Virginia's conventioneers rate the state of the nation as excellent or good, according to interviews with half the Virginia delegation conducted by the Harwood Group, a Bethesda, Md., research firm.
But back home in Virginia, a continent away from all the bunting and bluster, residents see a nation - and a political process - that is much less potent.
Two-thirds of Virginians think the state of the union is only fair or poor, according to a separate poll of 627 adults conducted by the same organization.
And only half think that electing the right president can make a ``big difference'' in turning it around. Most said improving the news media would do more to make society better.
The results come just as the presidential and congressional campaigns officially open, and as both parties unleash their most massive public spectacles of national politics, during which each will primp and posture and lay claim to the American dream.
``I don't blame the citizenry if they get a bit jaded,'' said Robert McDonnell, a delegate from Virginia Beach who served on the committee that crafted the Republican platform.
``We articulate these wonderful principles, and then sometimes in the campaign these principles get lost among all the back-and-forth politics.
``But it's not the politics that are important to us, it's those principles that really matter.''
So far for Republicans, that has meant tackling little more than how the party's stance on abortion will appear in the official Republican position papers. Members think they've ended the fractious debate in time for Monday's opening day, but only after three days of public lashings.
At the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston, a broil over morals stalled the Bush campaign like a potato in the tail pipe. And according to Virginians today, such debates still hold little sway.
In response to this open-ended query: ``As you think about the election, please tell me what are the two most important concerns on your mind,'' less than 5 percent of Virginians said abortion. Even the delegates to the two national conventions didn't place abortion among the top issues facing the nation, though Republicans did show a stronger zeal.
Rather, both polls revealed a set of broad, deep-rooted sentiments about life in Virginia, unrestrained by politics and individual candidates - and political parties. They are:
* The economy: Almost 30 percent stressed concern about rising prices and threats of layoffs. And that poured over into worries about their health or their children's education.
* The government funk: Rooted mostly in their feelings about tax rates and spending for social programs or defense, nearly a quarter of the participants were frustrated that the government seems unable to articulate priorities and then make laws to address them.
* Crime: Nearly as many respondents said safety - in their homes, on the streets, in schools - should rank among the nation's priorities. Terrorism also was a concern.
* Schools: Always a favorite, education troubled Virginians not just because of the quality of the state's schools, but because of low teacher salaries and school-aged drug and crime problems too.
* The system: Virginians say one of the primary ills of government and politics is the government and the politicians - doubts about their honesty, integrity and leadership.
Virginians ranked leadership as the fifth most important plank of the public's agenda, but the issue also was woven into nearly every other concern. They considered candidates' leadership qualities equally important as their positions on political issues.
And the most important quality in a leader, according to the poll: A deep understanding of what life in Virginia - not Washington - is really like.
``Our next president, does he understand how I feel carrying my lunch to work in a brown paper bag?'' asked Bill Hinkle, a factory worker from Dublin, during one of several citizen forums conducted by The Roanoke Times.
``I don't mind working if I get a return for my effort and I can see where I'm gaining. Does our next president understand that?
``Do they understand ... problems of buying a home, educating our kids, buying groceries, hoping to have a retirement and hoping to buy leisure time to go on vacation or something?''
A skeptical electorate is a reality not lost on Virginia's convention-goers gathering for this week's GOP fete. But with the addition of Kemp to the party's official presidential offering creating a little buzz, most said they expect the convention dialogue can shift to the trials of everyday life, and away from the quibbles of Republican Party life.
``I look at it sort of like a graduation,'' said Randy Forbes, chairman of the state Republican Party. ``It's not the event that changes a person, it's everything that the event means.
``So all the speeches that you hear, and everything you see on TV, I don't think that's going to have any enormous impact on people's lives.
``But it's the culminating point. It's the time when the party's vision gels and is offered to the voters. That's what people should be watching for.''
LENGTH: Long : 117 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshots) Bill Hinkle, Edna Loftus, Ed Lane Jr., Patby CNBMoriarty. GRAPHIC: Charts. 1. Faith in the system. color. 2. What
Virginians say about the political system. KEYWORDS: POLITICS PRESIDENT