ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 30, 1996 TAG: 9608300040
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
CITING A LACK of available campaign cash, Gary Thomas said he is dropping out of contention from the 5th Congressional District race. But party leaders say they were hoping he would see the election through till the end.
The Virginia Independent Party's first congressional candidate will also be its first to drop out of a campaign.
Gary Thomas, a high school teacher who lives in Gretna, said Thursday that he's pulling out of the 5th District race and plans to make an official announcement next week. He said he doesn't have enough cash to mount a challenge against the more widely known and better financed candidates in the race, Democrat Virgil Goode and Republican George Landrith.
"The party just doesn't have enough money to help me," Thomas said.
His campaign was viewed as a long shot by political observers and Democratic and Republican leaders in the congressional district.
The Independent Party - an offshoot of presidential candidate Ross Perot's Texas-based Reform Party - is in its infancy: It was just given an official spot on the state ballot this year and members are still debating its purpose and philosophy.
In fact, at the party's first statewide convention in June, delegates wrangled over what tactics the party should use and decided not to nominate a candidate for U.S. Senate - even though George "Tex" Wood, an iconoclastic college instructor from Patrick County, wanted the nod.
But growing pains aside, the party's chairwoman in the 5th District said she's disappointed by Thomas' decision.
Sue Harris DeBauche said money shouldn't be the primary issue to Thomas because the Independent Party's goal is to bring sense and solution back to government. One way to do that, she said, is to turn around the trend of high-dollar campaign budgets.
"Ross Perot says that a campaign can be waged in 45 days," said DeBauche, of Henry County. A campaign "doesn't need all this money and all this hoopla. I think Gary's made a snap decision. We could have supported him enough so he could have made a good showing."
DeBauche, who spoke for Thomas in his absence at a June 13 candidate's forum in Danville, said she was behind his campaign.
"He came to us and asked for our nomination," she said. "I'd hate to think that we made a mistake."
DeBauche said she doesn't know if the Independent Party will endorse either Goode or Landrith.
Although Thomas was the Independent Party's first nominee for Congress, he isn't the only one.
Thomas Roberts, a Blacksburg civil engineer, is running against Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, and Republican Patrick Muldoon in the 9th District. The party also is fielding a congressional candidate in Northern Virginia.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Gary Thomas. color. KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESSby CNB