THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, June 2, 1996                  TAG: 9606020307
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A8   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: Warren Fiske

                                            LENGTH:   46 lines

LAST YEAR, WARNER SCORED HIS HIGHEST CONSERVATIVE RATINGS HE DENIES MILLER'S CLAIM THAT HE'S TRYING TO BOOST HIS RECORD FOR THE ELECTIONS.

Voting studies support Jim Miller's claim that Sen. John Warner beefed up his conservative credentials last year. In 1995 he received the highest party unity rating - 93 percent - of his 17-year career.

Warner also had career-high marks from an assortment of conservative interests such as the Christian Coalition, the Chamber of Commerce, the American Conservative Union and the National Tax Limitation Committee.

Conversely, Warner received his lowest marks ever from liberal interests such as Americans for Democratic Action and groups monitoring consumer and environmental affairs.

Warner denies Miller's charge that his drift was designed to help him win renomination. ``America voted in Republican leadership in both the House and the Senate,'' he said, ``and I wanted to help that leadership succeed by supporting it more than in the past.''

Warner wasn't alone. A variety of records show that partisan voting was at a 20-year high in 1995 as debate began over Republican reforms proposed in the ``Contract With America.''

``With the new leadership and upcoming elections, the pressure seemed to be very strong last year not to cross party lines,'' said Demitri Coupounas, policy director of the Concord Coalition, a bipartisan group seeking to promote a balanced budget.

Warner is at a loss to explain his 58 percent voting record in support of the Clinton administration in 1994 - the seventh-highest mark among 44 Republican senators.

But he said Miller rarely mentions that Warner supported the Democratic president only 28 percent of the time in 1993 and 25 percent of the time in 1995. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

Research by WARREN FISKE and DAVID POOLE; graphic by JOHN EARLE/The

Virginian-Pilot

JOHN WARNER'S CONSERVATIVE CREDENTIALS

[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]

KEYWORDS: REPUBLICAN PARTY PRIMARY ELECTIONS U.S.

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