THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 18, 1994 TAG: 9411180001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A22 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: By MARK R. WARNER
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
Few on the planet can have missed the news that Republican Oliver North lost his bid for a U.S. Senate seat on Nov. 8.
What has been less widely recognized, amid the national Republican tide, is that Virginia Democrats were the winners.
In a year when Democrats suffered heavy losses virtually everywhere, Virginia Democrats won solid victories in the U.S. Senate and six congressional races. Even more remarkable is that these big wins came just a year after Virginia Democrats endured the bruising loss of two of three top statewide offices.
It is tempting for pundits and thwarted editorialists, massaged by understandably anxious Republican spinmeisters, to conclude that North's defeat was self-administered, with an assist from arrogant handlers, the ``liberal media'' and scheming GOP moderates.
But the fact is that Oliver North didn't just lose; a Democrat, Chuck Robb, won. And Democrats also won six of eight contested House races. And this in a year when Republicans took control of both houses of Congress!
What happened? Virginians in every corner of the commonwealth rejected out-of-the-mainstream Republican candidates and voted overwhelmingly for mainstream, moderate Virginia Democrats.
Why? Because Virginia is a mainstream state, committed to fiscal conservatism and mainstream values such as economic opportunity, responsible government, social progress and tolerance. And in Virginia, the candidates who most reflect those values are Democrats. What happened on Nov. 8 was no accident. It was an extraordinary turnaround born of hard work, effective campaigns and a unified and energized Democratic Party.
A year ago, even the most optimistic yellow-dog Democrat would have been forgiven for harboring doubts about the party's future: After 12 years of winning, we had just taken lopsided losses in two of three top statewide offices. However, instead of making excuses for our defeats or looking for convenient scapegoats, we decided to learn from them.
Within weeks, we began the painstaking, and sometimes painful, process of self-examination and renewal. A cross-section of Democrats from every part of Virginia worked together for months to draft a strategic plan for our party's future. During the summer, Lt. Gov. Don Beyer and I reviewed the plan with more than 1,000 grass-roots Democrats, who enthusiastically offered their ideas, comments, advice and help.
The plan is scheduled for formal adoption next month. We have already begun to put much of it in action. We have hired a new staff and launched an aggressive outreach program, especially among young Virginians. We expanded our fund-raising effort and installed state-of-the-art computers and technology.
The late-night discussions born of the agony of defeat in 1993, the hard work of grass-roots organizing, and the hours on the road paid off again and again this year as we worked our way through a hard-fought spring primary, a potentially divisive independent candidacy and a brutal fall campaign. A unified, focused and determined Virginia Democratic Party proved more than a match for the opposition's $20 million campaign machine.
Regardless of the national scene, the party of Thomas Jefferson, the Democratic Party of Virginia, is unified, alive and well - and determined to continue to listen to the voice of Virginia.
Virginia Democrats know that it is our responsibility to continue to prove to all Virginians that we care about the same things they care about: strong families, decent jobs, good schools, safe neighborhoods, affordable quality health care, fair opportunities and building tolerant, productive communities.
Virginia Democrats know that government isn't the solution to all of the problems that confront us. We are proud of our tradition of leadership and good government in Virginia, but we are not the party of the status quo. We intend to be the party of the future, and we are determined to earn that title.North lost, yes; Virginia Democrats won MEMO: Mr. Warner, an Alexandria businessman, is chair of the Democratic Party
of Virginia.Mr. Warner, an Alexandria businessman, is chair of the
Democratic Party of Virginia. by CNB