ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, January 18, 1997             TAG: 9701200112
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-5  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON

DEVELOPER WINS TOP GOP POST NICHOLSON: WE ARE THE `PARTY OF HOPE'

Colorado developer Jim Nicholson, a soft-spoken conservative who served as an Army Ranger in Vietnam, was elected Republican National Committee chairman Friday after an often acrimonious battle that took six ballots to settle.

Nicholson, 58, spent roughly $160,000 to defeat the two early front-runners in the race: former New Hampshire Gov. Steve Merrill and David Norcross of New Jersey, a veteran committee member and the national party's general counsel. Merrill and Norcross spent about $250,000 each on the race to succeed Haley Barbour.

``We are the party of opportunity and hope, and we are the conservative party,'' Nicholson said in a brief victory speech. ``We are the party with moral courage, and it is now our job to show the American people how our philosophy and policies can make a difference in their everyday lives.''

- Associated Press

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