THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 12, 1996 TAG: 9606120478
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LISE OLSEN, WENDY GROSSMAN AND KURT KENT, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: 97 lines
Only one precinct in South Hampton Roads supported James C. Miller III in Tuesday's primary - Norfolk's Lafayette Presbyterian Church.
There, 36 voters turned out, and 29 voted for Miller, unofficial results showed.
In fact, few even mentioned Miller in interviews at precincts Tuesday. By and large, voters talked about why they liked or disliked Sen. John W. Warner. Many echoed the arguments about whether the Christian Coalition or Oliver North helped or hurt the Republican cause.
``I didn't want the Christian Coalition to get in, so I came and voted for Warner,'' said June Lamb, 70, a self-described independent who voted in Virginia Beach's Oceana precinct.
On the other side of town, near broadcaster Pat Robertson's headquarters in the Centerville precinct, Joe McCutcheon, describing himself as a Christian conservative, said: ``I don't like Warner because he didn't support Oliver North.''
The arguments go back to 1994, when Warner, a moderate Republican, endorsed an independent instead of the conservative North in his bid to unseat Virginia's other senator, Charles S. Robb. That led North to support Miller in this race. The Christian Coalition also favored Miller. The candidates have made much of those decisions and alliances. So did voters interviewed Tuesday.
``I want to support Warner today,'' said Cynthia Jimenez, 34, records specialist for the city of Virginia Beach. ``I like the fact that he didn't want to support Oliver North and he stood by what he believed in.''
That stand angered others, like Matt Leen, 25, a Republican who once worked for Warner but voted against him Tuesday.
``His voting record really hasn't reflected Republican principles. . . . The icing on the cake was his failure to support Mike Farris (an unsuccessful candidate for lieutenant governor) and Ollie North. It shows his disloyalty to the party and the activists who helped him get elected all these years.''
Leen is one of those activists: He has worked for Farris and North, as well as Warner. ``I stood in front of a grocery store in 1990 trying to get signatures for John Warner. I'm not proud of that now.''
In Virginia, voters do not have to register as Republicans or Democrats. But the Republican primary clearly drew more than the party faithful, interviews and unofficial results suggested.
Norfolk and Portsmouth residents turned out in greater numbers than those in Chesapeake, which tends to vote more heavily Republican. Turnout was highest in Virginia Beach, where 19.4 percent of the voters came to the polls.
Some Hampton Roads voters, like Marvin L. Skinner, 39, a sheetmetal worker in Portsmouth, said they did not consider themselves Republicans but voted in the primary to support Warner. ``I just had to go with the guy who's been there a little longer,'' he said.
Chesapeake voter George N. Hathaway, 76, described himself as an independent. He said he ``votes for the man and his performance.''
Susan Dillard, 34, a computer trainer who lives in Virginia Beach, bluntly expressed her anti-party sentiment: ``They're all kind of slimy so you just hate to commit to anybody.''
There were even a few self-described Democrats at the Republican primary. Afshin Farashahi, 28, a prosecutor in Virginia Beach, said he thought the primary contest would decide the Senate race, so he came to make his vote count now.
Farashahi said he supported Warner because ``I think Warner is more in tune with what Virginians are like, being a moderate conservative. His thinking seems to be in my own line.'' Warner's seniority and his probable chairmanship of the Armed Forces Committee also could help the region, Farashahi said.
Leen said he was hoping for ``a lot of rolling thunderstorms to go across the state today'' because he thought voters who hated Warner would be most likely to brave that kind of weather to get to the polls.
``Those of us who want to get rid of John Warner are certainly the most motivated. . . . We've been waiting for two years for this day.''
He got his weather wish early in the day, but things cleared up by the afternoon.
At Norfolk's Berkley precinct, a predominantly black neighborhood dominated by Democrats, a poll worker brought a word search puzzle book to keep herself busy. There was no campaigning in the neighborhood at all, said Rochelle Bembry, 52, assistant chief election officer.
Fifty-six of the 1,500 registered voters in Berkley turned out to vote, unofficial results showed. Warner won 48 to 8. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
CANDICE C. CUSIC/The Virginian-Pilot
Cynthia Jimenez, 34, voted in Virginia Beach for Warner. ``I like
the fact that he didn't want to support Oliver North and he stood by
what he believed in,'' she said.
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE VIRGINIA PRIMARY ELECTIONS
REPUBLICAN PARTY RESULTS by CNB