
DATE: Tuesday, November 4, 1997             TAG: 9711040023

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   52 lines

ELECTION DAY: ENDORSEMENTS RECAPPED IF YOU DON'T VOTE, SOMEBODY ELSE WILL DECIDE WHICH WAY VIRGINIA GOES FOR TTHE NEXT FOUR YEARS

In Virginia, Election Day is an annual rite since state and federal election cycles are staggered.

That means every year, candidates run, handlers spin, newspapers endorse. But it's still the voters who decide. All the rest is talk. It's the voters who act in the solitude of the voting booth.

But only those voters who go to the polls have a chance to make a difference. In an old joke, a fellow is described as 90 percent literate - can read, but won't.

America is 90 percent a democracy - can vote, but doesn't. Turnout is frequently low. But when voters feel an election makes a difference, they show up.

There's a lot of reason for voters to turn out for this year's races for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, the House and constitutional offices.

Over the next four years, Virginia can make progress on educational challenges that threaten to leave the next generation unprepared for economic survival. It can begin to build the kind of transportation system that will keep the state competitive. Or it can mark time and fall further behind in a global economy. Voters will decide which it will be.

Below you'll find a list of the candidates The Pilot's editorial page has endorsed, but newspapers don't vote. People do.

Go to the polls and exercise your democratic right to influence events. If you don't, you will live in a commonwealth created by somebody else's votes. Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.

Statewide races -

Governor: Donald S. Beyer Jr. (D)

Lt Governor: L. F. Payne (D)

Attorney General: Mark Earley (R)

House races -

76th District: S. Chris Jones (R)

79th District: Johnny S. Joannou (D)

86th District: Beverly Graeber (R)

87th District: Todd M. Fiorella (D)

88th District: Thomas Moss Jr. (D)

100th District: Robert S. Bloxom (R)

Constitutional races -