
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 18, 1994                    TAG: 9406180253 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: B1    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: Guy Friddell 
DATELINE: 940618                                 LENGTH: Medium

AS IN 1949, 4-WAY RACE TO BE ABSORBING

{LEAD} Formal entry today of former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder into the four-man race for the U.S. Senate will complete a field of candidates the like of which has not been seen since 1949, when four Democrats ran for governor.

Aside from the four-way aspect of both races, there are marked differences between the two.

{REST} Any one of today's quartet - Democratic Sen. Charles S. Robb, Republican Oliver L. North and independent-Democrat Wilder and former GOP Attorney General J. Marshall Coleman - may win.

In 1949, the front-runner was veteran state Sen. John S. Battle of Charlottesville, backed by U.S. Sen. Harry F. Byrd, boss of the Democratic Party's dominant conservative organization.

Pressing the Battle camp was Francis Pickens Miller of Charlottesville, a leader of the anti-Byrd wing and a colonel on Dwight Eisenhower's staff in World War II.

A former member of the House of Delegates, Miller dramatized state needs, especially in education, long neglected because of the Depression, World War II and Byrd's innate frugality.

Making life more difficult for Battle was the candidacy of Horace H. Edwards, former Democratic Party chairman who drew support from Byrd's flock. As a former Richmond mayor, Edwards knew the localities' fiscal needs, which he proposed to ease through a 2 percent statewide sales tax.

A third drain on Battle was conservative Remmie Arnold, a pen manufacturer from Petersburg.

Four major turns aided Battle in fending off Miller. Chairman of the Senate finance committee, Battle pledged to give funds from a state surplus with which localities could build schools. That blunted, somewhat, Miller's thrust.

A kiss from puny organized labor was deemed a curse. The Battle people sought to label Miller the CIO candidate. To their delight, James C. Petrillo, head of a musicians union, wrote a letter urging its members to back Miller.

Then, abetted by campaign manager Sidney Kellam of Virginia Beach, the Battle forces launched a slogan to strip votes from the third-place candidate: ``A vote for Edwards is a vote for Miller.'' It worked.

Near the end, GOP leader Henry A. Wise urged Republicans to enter the Democratic primary and vote for Battle. They obeyed in droves. Only 9,000 remained to vote in the Republican primary.

Battle won with 135,426 votes to Miller's 111,697. Edwards polled 47,435 and Arnold only 22,054. It was the fiercest fight the Byrd wing had faced, a prelude to epic challenges in the next 30 years.

This race's four foes are so evenly matched as to make the first stages a free-for-all as devoid of strategy as Mack Sennett slapstick.

Polls will play a greater role than in any previous election in Virginia. They have showed Robb ahead, one-on-one, with North. Among Democrats, near the end, sentiment may solidify behind the candidate appearing most likely to beat North.

In such tumult, a forecast would be foolish. There is but one certainty: The race, all the way, will be engrossing - as it was in 1949.

by CNB