Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 10, 1993 TAG: 9303100269
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Long
DOLAN SAYS HE'S GOT IT SEWN UP
Arlington lawyer Bill Dolan claimed Tuesday he has enough prospective delegates running uncontested in this weekend's mass meetings to win the Democratic nomination for attorney general by default.But Bedford County prosecutor Jim Updike vowed to fight on. His campaign disputed Dolan's numbers and charged there are irregularities in some localities that would allow Updike to challenge the results and reopen the window to file prospective delegates.
"I will continue to fight to win the Democratic nomination for attorney general unless and until accurate information is available," Updike said at a news conference in the Bedford courthouse.
But some Democratic leaders around the state insisted the picture is perfectly clear already and that Updike's campaign has flunked a basic test of organizational strength by failing to line up prospective delegates in many key localities.
"Even if the numbers are only halfway correct, what's the point?" said Richmond Democratic Chairman Jim Nachman. "There's a pretty clear winner. The people who participate in the Democratic [Party] process have spoken."
At issue is the arcane process Virginia Democrats use to select the party's nominees for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.
The mass meetings to select convention delegates won't be held until Saturday and next Monday. But the deadline for each campaign to file its slates of prospective delegates has already passed.
The goal is for each campaign to contest as many of the 3,500 delegate slots as possible. Starting Sunday night and continuing through Tuesday, the Dolan campaign began releasing figures on how many prospective delegates had filed in each locality across the state.
With only a handful of localities yet to be heard from, Dolan claims he has filed 2,521 prospective delegates, falling short of a full slate mostly in the rural areas of the Shenandoah Valley, Southside and Western Virginia where Updike was strongest.
By contrast, Dolan's count shows Updike filed only 837 prospective delegates, failing to line up a single supporter to run on his behalf in many localities in vote-rich Northern Virginia and Tidewater.
Another 438 prospective delegates are not committed to either candidate.
But the key figure is this: Dolan claims at least 1,786 of his prospective delegates are running unopposed and therefore guaranteed of winning by default. That's 35 more than the 1,751 delegates needed to win the nomination.
The publication of these numbers in newspapers across the state sent the shoestring Updike campaign into a flurry of damage control.
Updike campaign manager Billy Sublett charged there was no way to verify Dolan's numbers except to call the Democratic chairman in each locality, and many of them had refused to give Updike's campaign the count.
However, the Roanoke Times & World-News spot-checked the numbers in several key localities. In each one, the local chairmen were eager to give out the count - one said he had tried to call the numbers into Updike's headquarters, but no one had answered. Each also said Dolan's figures were on target. "What Dolan reported is pretty accurate," said Nachman, the Richmond chairman. "It may be off by only two or three."
"Dolan didn't make up the numbers," said Abbi Easter, the Chesterfield County chairwoman. "They are accurate and I would say understated," because some prospective delegates who filed uncommitted have since said they'll back Dolan.
Meanwhile, Sublett charged there were irregularities in some localities, such as local chairman partial to Dolan unilaterally changing the deadline to keep Updike supporters from filing. "It's a floating crap game down there in Tidewater," Sublett said. He said Updike might have grounds to file credentials challenges, although he refused to give any specifics on where and why.
Some Democratic leaders dismissed such talk as a bluff. "You always challenge if you ain't got the votes," said Henrico County Chairman Bernie Henderson. "That's sad," said Portsmouth Democratic Chairman Leo Sharpe. "I made a special appointment to meet some people so they could file. Nobody filed for Updike here except for [supporters of political extremist Lyndon LaRouche.]"
Furthermore, Sublett charged that Dolan was guilty of "deliberate, cynical manipulation of the press" by releasing the partial numbers Sunday night. He called that an attempt to discourage Updike supporters in Western Virginia from filing. Most of the filing deadlines in Western Virginia expired 8onday.
"I can tell you we lost delegates as a result of this," Updike said. For instance, he said, he was unable to file a full slate in Roanoke County because many supporters thought the race was over and didn't want to waste the $25 filing fee.
Updike stressed the only official count will come after delegates are formally elected in the mass meetings, and he would reassess his campaign then.
Although many Dolan supporters encouraged Updike to go ahead and withdraw, privately some said Updike should stay in the race through the mass meetings simply to give his supporters a sense that they had participated.
Keywords:
POLITICS