THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 9, 1994 TAG: 9406090522
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE DALEY, CHICAGO TRIBUNE
DATELINE: 940609 LENGTH: COLUMBIA, S.C.
But when Derrick announced earlier this year that he would not run for re-election, Republicans began to think about capturing the seat in a region of the country where President Clinton and his party are increasingly unpopular.
{REST} Indeed, Republicans are optimistic about their chances in congressional races across the South and the border states this fall, but factional fighting between Main Street, economic conservative Republicans and fundamentalist Christians is a growth industry in a number of states.
In a series of interviews with party officials and activists in several states, a picture emerges of a Republican Party struggling with a search for a unifying principle.
Even as the Republican Party appears poised to rally in the South this fall, bitter feuds between ``regular'' Republicans and evangelical Christians and social conservatives have enveloped state parties in controversy.
In Virginia, for example, Republican Sen. John W. Warner has said he may run as an independent in 1996, and he is emphatic that he will not support the Republican Senate nominee, Oliver L. North.
Instead, Warner is backing Republican J. Marshall Coleman, who is considering a run as an independent.
Warner has underscored his feelings by refusing to rule out support for Robb or Wilder should Coleman decide not to run.
``Let's take each step at a time,'' he said Wednesday.
``The Republican Party in Virginia is on the verge of a major ideological rift,'' said Mark Rozell, a political scientist at Mary Washington College in Fredricksburg.
``There's no sign of any truce in a fight over the heart and soul of the party, and it's likely to continue for years.''
In Iowa on Tuesday, Republican Gov. Terry Branstad, a favorite of evangelical Christians, barely beat back a primary challenge from Rep. Fred Grandy, best known as Gopher on TV's ``The Love Boat.''
A conservative himself, Grandy has cast himself as an alternative to the three-term incumbent and his fundamentalist followers.
In Texas, a pitched battle between moderates and fundamentalist conservatives led to the ouster of the longtime state Republican chairman last month, and the fight threatens the gubernatorial chances of candidate George W. Bush this fall.
And in a host of gubernatorial and congressional races in the South, Democrats are hoping Republican primaries will produce nominees they can paint as right-wing ideological zealots.
``Republicans are finding out that they tend to get extremist candidates out of their primary process,'' said Albert McAlister, former South Carolina Democratic Party chairman.
Merle Black, an authority on Southern politics at Emory University in Atlanta, sees the ``drift'' in the Old Confederacy moving toward the Republican Party.
He suggests, however, that there is no assurance that it will continue. ``Republicans have blown chances right and left in the past,'' he said.
``There is no majority party in the South these days,'' Black went on. ``What Republicans have to do is field candidates who can not only unite factions in the party but reach out to voters who aren't Republican.''
That approach may be essential for a party laboring to re-establish its national footing.
Districts such as Derrick's in South Carolina have been ``trending Republican,'' as the political scientists say, and neither Clinton's actions nor Republican infighting at the national level has slowed the trend.
``In the South, if you're a Democratic representative, you try to distance yourself from the national Democratic Party if you're depending on white voters to elect you,'' said Bill Moore, a political scientist at the College of Charleston.
From gays in the military to gun control, from rumors about his personal behavior to his foreign-policy missteps, Clinton has unearthed a vein of anger and disaffection with white Southern voters.
Black and other analysts suggest that the most effective Republican strategy this fall would be to ``nationalize'' House races, with an emphasis on attacking Clinton.
But the GOP's coming ideological battle - the first echoes of which could be heard in Virginia last weekend as North won the party's nod to pursue a Senate seat - will provide the Republicans a problem that no Democrat can solve.
{KEYWORDS} ELECTION by CNB