ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, November 7, 1996 TAG: 9611070062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITER
A GLITCH in reporting the Fairfax County returns threw the Warner-Warner race into confusion on election night. John Warner was ahead all along.
Democratic Senate candidate Mark Warner says his narrow election defeat proves the merits of his message of fresh ideas, and he urged supporters Wednesday to take heart.
But they'll never have as much heart as they thought they had on election night.
After Republican winner John Warner claimed victory, and as 41-year-old Mark Warner delivered his concession speech about 10:30 p.m., unofficial election returns suddenly reported that the race was a virtual tie. With 2.1 million votes counted, the two candidates were just 12,000 votes apart, according to results from the Voter News Service - a consortium of The Associated Press and the four major television networks.
But it was all a mistake. The service, which reported returns to media outlets throughout the state, erroneously gave Mark Warner 40,000 Fairfax County votes that belonged to his opponent.
The final margin - John Warner 53 percent, Mark Warner 47 percent - was closer than most people expected. But the drama of an outcome in doubt was sparked by some bad information, not a close race.
The election-night murmurs about a recount faded when the Democrats realized what had happened. Mark Warner said he has no plans to contest John Warner's victory.
"It was a roller coaster there for a couple of hours, but this whole campaign has been a roller coaster," Mark Warner said Wednesday morning, appearing before the press in jeans.
Statewide polls the week before the election showed John Warner leading by up to 15 points. Mark Warner's own polls showed a closer race.
John Warner brushed aside questions about the closeness of the race. ``It's over now. That is history,'' the senator said.
But the Democrat said his 6-point loss speaks well of his promises of technological innovation in education and fiscal common sense. And it proves that the $10 million in personal funds he invested in the campaign was not spent in vain.
"The cumulative effect of all those hands I'd shook, and all those voters I'd greeted, and all those parades I'd run, and all those radio shows I did - I think they all paid off."
Besides a trip to Disney World for his three children, Warner said he has no post-election plans. He'll get back to his multimillion-dollar cellular telephone company. A run for state office in 1997? He said he couldn't imagine a scenario in which that would happen.
John Warner will be sworn in in January for his fourth U.S. Senate term, and his third year as a member of the majority party. Republicans held control of the Congress Tuesday, meaning the senator will retain his second-ranking seat on the Armed Services Committee and control of the subcommittee that oversees most Navy projects.
Staff writer Laura LaFay contributed to this report.
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines KEYWORDS: ELECTIONby CNB