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

DATE: Tuesday, November 15, 1994             TAG: 9411150010
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A12  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Letter 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   35 lines

VIRGINIA WAS NAPPING, AGAIN

Have the Republicans learned anything yet?

I hope so.

In recent years we have seen a good man, Mike Farris, go down to defeat.

Now we have seen another good man, Oliver North, go down to defeat.

The Republican Party desperately needs to look at candidates who are electable and who can unite the Republican Party.

This election wasn't about ``issues.'' The vast majority of those to whom I spoke didn't even know what the issues were. Most were voting Democrat because they always vote Democrat.

You can't beat unity. I have to give it to the Democrats. They were united within their party. They were able to mobilize their voters.

We Republicans couldn't even get behind our candidate as a party.

The lack of organization on our party's behalf was largely due to those Republicans who were not excited about their candidate.

Between our so-called Republican Sen. John Warner turning his back on his own party, and a local radio talk show that claims to be somewhat conservative hashing North to the extent that it made it virtually impossible for him to appear on his program, it is no wonder that while the rest of the country has been waking up, Virginia was again caught napping.

WILLIAM D. WARD

Suffolk, Nov. 9, 1994 by CNB