THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 11, 1994 TAG: 9411100208
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
Election Day is over, and a largely conservative party in a largely conservative city in a largely conservative state missed a nationwide wave of conservatism. Why?
You'll get as many theories as you can find theorists, but here's one: You'd as well call a Pekinese a Palomino as call local Democratic incumbents Owen Pickett and Norman Sisisky clones of Bill Clinton. That particular Republican dog hunted in districts across the country with incumbents who were both at odds with their constituents and in cahoots with the White House. Here, it never picked up the scent.
Nevermind all that folderol about who voted with the president what percentage of the time. It sounded like the partial truth and poor indicator of philosophy and performance it was.
In fact, a weak spot for Mr. Pickett in particular was not how many times he stayed right when the president turned left. It was how the congressman could so consistently oppose so much of the Democratic agenda and still call himself a Democrat, much less call the White House for help on issues dear to his district's future, like NAS Oceana and Lake Gaston.
The judges of the State Corporation Commission delivered more, faster on the Gaston pipeline than anybody connected with the feds. The SCC didn't just call FERC - the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission - a four-letter word, as Mr. Pickett did, for vacillating on the pipeline. Better, it paved a possible route for bypassing FERC altogether. (So why didn't the city pursue that route sooner?)
And if the bypass fizzles? If Oceana falls under the BRAC ax? The White House is Democratic. The Congress is Republican. Our local congressmen can't boast much clout with either. Our Democratic senator, Chuck Robb, owes the Beach nil. Our Republican senator, John Warner, owes his party an apology and an election, or so GOP honchos think. If we need help in case of a fizzle, where do we call? Direct to Newt? by CNB