ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 11, 1990                   TAG: 9005110401
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: ROB EURE POLITICAL WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

OLIN WON'T FACE GOP CHALLENGER

Willis Anderson, the only Republican seriously considering a challenge to Democratic Rep. Jim Olin, has decided against it.

Anderson, a former Roanoke mayor and state delegate, said Thursday he would not run this year, but left open the possibility that he will run for the seat in 1992.

Citing the $121,000 Olin has already raised for the campaign, Anderson said, "This and other factors have convinced me that a successful challenge against an incumbent cannot be mounted in six months. Good organization and fund raising require a long lead time, especially in a district as large and diverse as ours."

But Anderson said he is committed to returning the congressional district stretching from Roanoke to Harrisonburg to Republican hands. "Before the end of the year, I expect to have something more to say on the subject."

Anderson's decision leaves the Republicans with no announced candidate to challenge Olin, a former General Electric executive who captured the seat in 1982.

Two years ago, when the same situation existed, Republicans had all but closed their convention without a candidate when Charles Judd, a former executive director of Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority, reconsidered his decision against running. Judd became a formal candidate just a day before the final deadline for candidates in early June.

Judd announced earlier this spring that he would not run again. The only other serious candidate, Del. Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta, has also removed his name.

Olin, who is set to receive the Democratic Party's nomination at a district convention in Amherst on Saturday, has said consistently this spring that he is preparing to face a challenge despite the apparent lack of a Republican opponent.

So far, the five incumbent Democratic congressmen from Virginia, including the three Western Virginia seats held by Olin, Rick Boucher of Abingdon and L.F. Payne of Nelson County, have no announced opposition this fall. Likewise, the Democrats have found no candidate to oppose Republican Sen. John Warner, who is running for a third term. 


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