DATE: Monday, August 18, 1997               TAG: 9708160009

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B12  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   74 lines

DOUG WILDER HE'S BACK

L. Douglas Wilder likes to watch every Virginia election from his favorite spot: the catbird seat.

Last Friday night the former governor was perched there again when Republican gubernatorial candidate James S. Gilmore III requested a private meeting to ask for the Democrat's support. Wilder, being quintessentially Wilder, announced afterward, with great drama, that he would remain neutral in the governor's race until after he moderates a gubernatorial debate on Oct. 6.

What he'll do then is anyone's guess.

The only thing predictable about Doug Wilder is that he will do the unpredictable. He's Virginia's political wild card, making both friends and enemies nervous.

Judging from past performances, Wilder will keep his own counsel, jump into the fray at the last possible minute to possibly affect the outcome of the election and claim credit if his candidate wins. In the meantime, he will bask in the spotlight.

It all seems comical, but no serious statewide candidate in Virginia can underestimate Wilder's ability to mobilize the African-American vote. In a tight race, Wilder can be a king-maker.

Perhaps even more irresistible to Wilder, this election is bound to attract national attention. The only other race for a governor's mansion this year is a yawner in New Jersey, where Christine Todd Whitman seems to be a shoo-in for a second term. The closely contested Virginia race is bound to catch the interest of pundits around the country who study off-year elections.

To his detractors, Wilder is a gadfly, a ruthless maverick, a publicity-seeking vindictive politician who never makes a move without coldly calculating its political payoff to himself.

To his supporters, however, Wilder is an independent man. They see him as smart, charismatic and principled to the point of abandoning - temporarily - his own Democratic political roots when the party nominated a candidate for U.S. Senate whom he considered to be morally deficient.

Wilder enjoys needling Democrats more than Republicans. His long-running on-again, off-again feud with Sen. Charles S. Robb is the stuff of political legend. It grew especially heated after several Robb henchmen were convicted of releasing the contents of a taped cellular phone call between Wilder and a friend.

Last year Wilder happily appeared at a summit on church burnings convened by Gilmore, but he later declined to attend Democrat Donald S. Beyer's conference with black leaders. Wilder characterized Beyer's meeting as ``political opportunism.''

He didn't stop there. On Monday night, on his Richmond radio program, Wilder accused Beyer of pandering to blacks in the candidate's ads running in African-American newspapers.

Beyer may be smarting from Wilder's attacks, but publicly he's still courting his one-time running mate, reminding the former governor of his support in elections past.

But House Majority Leader C. Richard Cranwell, who apparently believes he'll never run for statewide office or won't need Wilder's support if he does, was openly angered by Wilder's refusal to enthusiastically endorse the party's nominee.

``That's kind of Doug's mode of operation,'' Cranwell said. ``Doug has been a Democrat, he's been an independent, and it wouldn't surprise me if he decides to be a Republican for a while.''

No one knows what Wilder will do next. But he's back in the catbird seat, doing his best to ensure Virginia's race for governor won't be dull. If all he's after is the ego-gratification that comes from being courted, he won't add much to the contest.

But Wilder could perform a useful public service by encouraging Beyer and Gilmore to address important state issues to which they have so far given scant attention - the need for spending on public-school infrastructure, for example. The need for a game plan if welfare reform fails to live up to expectations.

As long as Wilder figures to be a presence in Virginia's gubernatorial race, we hope he'll use his clout to demand more substance from the candidates.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu