THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 9, 1994 TAG: 9411090359
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A13 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: REALPOLITIK
Occasional dispatches on the offbeat side of the Virginia U.S. Senate race.
SOURCE: BY KERRY DOUGHERTY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
I half hoped someone would hit me.
There were reporters - we won't name names - who asked not to be sent to North headquarters on Election Night.
They feared if North lost, angry supporters might rip the press apart limb by limb.
It seemed like the makings of a good story. Right up Realpolitik's alley.
It didn't happen. As Tuesday night wore on, the Ollie crowd became as comatose as the Robb campaign in August.
But one man was smiling and energized.
Mike Farris' handler, Doug Domenech, was frantically tracking interview requests on a wadded piece of scrap paper as eager reporters grabbed and pulled him.
They wanted a few minutes with Farris while they waited for Ollie's concession speech.
``He's the guy who said the size of Marshall Coleman's ego is only exceeded by Chuck Robb's sex drive,'' Domenech explained, grinning broadly. ``He's funny. He gives great quotes.''
And Farris offered disheartened North supporters someone to hate - the perfect scapegoat. He aimed their anger toward the man he said had kept him from being elected lieutenant governor last year.
``There is one person at fault,'' Farris declared into the glare of television lights. ``John Warner.''
The crowd gathered around him burst into applause, losing to history Farris' next few utterances.
These people were dying to cheer for something.
``The Republican Party is great, except for one man,'' Farris continued, warming to his subject. ``We can't let one man bring the whole party down.''
At the moment, it wasn't much of a party. The people in Richmond Centre looked like extras from another remake of ``Night of the Living Dead.''
The bleaker the news, the more animated Farris became.
A crowd of reporters swarmed around him, tape recorders thrust in his face.
``Have you got a five-minute window with Mike at 9?'' a Richmond television reporter called out to Domenech.
``Yeah, I can do that,' Domenech said, consulting his scrap-paper schedule.
``I need him sooner, just for a one-minute spot,'' yelled yet another of the 26 TV types jamming the press area.
``Gotcha covered,' Domenech replied.
All around Farris, Ollie supporters were dazed and weepy. But Farris, holding the hand of his 6-year-old son, one of his nine children, was grinning.
When the large TV screen began broadcasting Marshall Coleman's concession speech, Farris glared at the larger-than-life image of the Republican-turned-independent. Someone hit a button and switched the screen to sports.
Another chance to cheer.
Talk turned to the 1996 Senate race, when Warner will be seeking re-election.
The body - the corpse of Ollie's '94 campaign - wasn't even cold yet.
You thought this election was insane?
Farris supporters were handing out bumper stickers that read: ``Is it 1996 yet?''
They want Warner's head - and seat.
If John Warner had wandered into the North party Tuesday, he would not have left intact.
``Don't say his name,'' pleaded an Ollie fan, who said his father was a law school classmate of Warner's at the University of Virginia. ``I've cast my last vote for John Warner.''
The Warner hate-fest was a source of great relief to members of the Fourth Estate. The media were ignored when North supporters began venting their spleens.
``John Warner is nothing but Michael Jackson's best friend's ex-wife,'' declared Doug Lucas of Hampton, decked out in a variety of ``Ollie'' buttons. ``He will not get the Republican nomination for Senate next time. No way.''
After Ollie buttons, one of the most popular political accessories on Election Night were buttons declaring, ``Dump Warner.''
There were ample signs that the next nasty campaign is officially under way.
``We always say John Warner lives in the Watergate with Barbara Walters and never ventures into Virginia,'' joked Leslie Montague, a member of the Fairfax County Republican Committee and a former Democrat who had once voted for Chuck Robb.
``I'm kidding about them living together,'' she said. ``They do date, I think.''
Montague said there was a simple reason for her political conversion.
``I got a job,'' the private school teacher said.
As the disappointing North returns trickled in, Montague cheered herself by looking ahead to '96.
``I'll be supporting Farris,' she said. ``Unless Ollie's running against Warner.'
Ollie hinted at it. In his concession speech he recalled that his Naval Academy boxing career began with two big losses.
``The third time,'' he said, ``I won.''
The crowd began chanting `` '96, '96, '96.''
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE VIRGINIA CANDIDATES RESULTS by CNB