DATE: Thursday, May 1, 1997                 TAG: 9705010014

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   42 lines

COLEMAN ANDREWS PUTTING FAMILY FIRST

It is easier to talk the talk than to walk the walk of family values. But for the second time in this campaign season, the Republican Party has produced a candidate who has elevated family above political ambition by dropping out of a race he was favored to win.

The surprise withdrawal of Coleman Andrews, a Northern Virginia businessman who was seeking the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor, will be met with its share of skepticism. So was that of Richmond lawyer Richard Cullen when he gave up running for attorney general last year, citing family needs.

Those wise to the addictiveness of politics may speculate that some hidden motivation or vulnerability must lie behind such decisions. Andrews and his wife have said only that one of their children is ill. The lack of specificity will fuel speculation.

But without evidence to the contrary, Andrews should be taken at his word and lauded for giving more than lip service to the importance of parenthood. The reality is that it is not easy to be the child of a man or woman who lives in the limelight and is constantly at the public's beck and call. For a parent, a child's illness could make the difficult task of balancing parenthood and politics impossible.

``I have to subordinate everything else to being a dad,'' said Andrews in leaving the race. There is no doubt that the world would be a better place if scores of others felt the same.

Coincidentally, the man who automatically becomes the Republican nominee with Andrews' departure also bears daily witness to the life-altering commitment of fatherhood. John Hager, a retired tobacco company executive and GOP party activist, has been in a wheelchair since contacting polio from a vaccination given his infant son some decades ago.

Hager has refused to yield to that handicap, accepting business, community and even athletic challenges with true grit. He entered the Republican contest at a point when his odds of nomination appeared long. But with the withdrawal of the front-runner, the prize is his. He will face Democratic opponent L. F. Payne in the fall. In his example of courageous living Hager, too, walks the walk.

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