THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 13, 1994 TAG: 9406130057
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
DATELINE: 940613 LENGTH: Medium
Mr. McSweeney holds that he has a duty to enforce a commitment to support the party's nominees.
{REST} But Virginians' increasing willingness to disregard party allegiance has helped the two-party system evolve.
For three decades Republicans pleaded with the mass of Virginians ``to put principle above party'' and vote for GOP candidates rather than Democrats as was their wont.
In 1973, after ardent wooing by the GOP, former Democratic Gov. Mills Godwin left the party - ``the House of Our Fathers,'' as Democrats called it - and ran again and won as a Republican.
Few, if any, taxed Godwin with ingratitude toward the Democratic Party that had backed him throughout a long career.
And, bringing things up to date, after the GOP nominated Oliver North for the U.S. Senate on June 3, Godwin, cheered by the delegates, came to the lectern and blessed their choice.
U.S. Sen. Harry F. Byrd, boss for 40 years of Virginia Democrats, kept what he called ``a golden silence'' in presidential races but found a way to signal to voters that his heart belonged to the GOP.
Fiery old Byrd turned back an effort by congressional liberals to unseat him as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
In 1970 his son, U.S. Sen. Harry F. Byrd Jr., ran for re-election as an independent and won.
And North's chances of beating incumbent Democrat Sen. Charles Robb in November hinge on another Democrat, former Gov. Doug Wilder, entering the race soon as an independent and possibly splitting the Democratic vote.
Few have scolded Wilder about party loyalty.
Meanwhile, GOP Sen. John Warner said North is unfit to serve in the U.S. Senate and urged Republican Marshall Coleman, former attorney general, to enter the lists as a voice for moderates.
All this will begin to clarify after tomorrow's Democratic primary election in which Robb is challenged by state Sen. Virgil Goode, Sylvia Clute and Nancy Spannaus.
If Goode wins, the field could dwindle to a North-Goode match. Otherwise, it is likely to be a four-way race in which the entries are so handicapped anyone could win.
Mr. McSweeney has charged Warner and Coleman with disloyalty. Sen. Warner has threatened to run as an independent if the GOP Central Committee chooses in 1996 to nominate by a convention.
If affable Warner finds a North candidacy so odious he will risk his own U.S. Senate seat to oppose him, he must feel an obligation overarching all others: his oath to support the U.S. Constitution.
Mr. McSweeney may be a referee on party rules. He is not arbiter of Sen. Warner's conscience.
Polls show Warner with an 86 percent approval rating, indicating Virginians still value independence.
by CNB