THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 16, 1995 TAG: 9501160046
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
Some Virginia Republicans who would rather whine than win - and there are more than several - went home happy from their party's annual retreat, which they call an Advance.
But the gathering in Charlottesville over the weekend was really a retreat from reality for some disgruntled members who felt impelled to snub their party's best vote getter, U.S. Sen. John Warner, who will be campaigning for re-election next year.
You'd think they'd be ecstatic at the prospect of Warner's running again, but some GOP members on the hard right would rather nurse a grudge than hold a victory dinner.
Warner, who regards his oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution as coming somewhat before his obligations to the GOP State Central Committee, had supported independent Republican J. Marshall Coleman against Oliver North of Iran-Contra fame in the 1994 race for the Senate. North lost.
At a banquet Friday night saluting the new GOP majority in the Congress, Warner sat at the rear.
North, who was at the head table with GOP Chairman Patrick McSweeney, led the throng of 500 in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
As a reciter of the pledge, North, who could inject near overwhelming emotion into a reading of a bus schedule, is on a par with Whitney Houston, top flight among singers of ``The Star-Spangled Banner.''
For the artistry of the performance, there's nobody, offhand, I'd rather hear on the pledge than North.
As far as speakers go, including Saturday night's banquet orator, media commentator Pat Buchanan, North's rendition must have been the highlight of the retreat.
North doesn't just recite, he emotes. In his husky voice, breaking at just the right points, you hear bugles sounding, from Charge to Taps.
The most talked-about event of the weekend occurred with McSweeney presiding as master of ceremonies at the opening banquet.
In introducing a dozen dignitaries to the 500 in the ballroom of the Omni Hotel, McSweeney did not acknowledge Warner, the party's senior officeholder.
McSweeney said later he hadn't seen Warner, which worsened the oversight.
And, getting even deeper, if he had seen him, McSweeney continued, he probably wouldn't have introduced Warner for fear of the protests that might have aroused from the audience.
None of this fazed Warner, who has the sangfroid of a bullfrog on a lily pad amid a swarm of horseflies.
Warner held his own reception at a Saturday morning breakfast, and then strolled down the corridor to join the one sponsored by other Republican leaders.
Never mind McSweeney's absentmindedness in failing to notice Warner. McSweeney has a band of fervent admirers among the Democrats who hope to recapture that Senate seat in 1996. by CNB