Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 14, 1993 TAG: 9303140118
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: E-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
LT. GOVERNOR CANDIDATES CLASH ON GOP'S `BIG TENT'
As one of the century's biggest snowstorms blew outside, the Republican candidates for lieutenant governor clashed in Roanoke on whether the party should shelter a wider spectrum of supporters under its "big tent."To halt a string of Democratic victories in statewide elections, "we have to be a big-tent party and mean it," Bobbie Kilberg of McLean told a gathering of GOP supporters and officials in a motel conference room.
"My views represent the beliefs of the majority of voters in Virginia who are mainstream," said Kilberg, a veteran Republican activist and White House staff member during the Bush administration.
"I believe in an inclusive party," she said. "I believe in expanding this party. I don't believe we can gain a majority status by starting with a narrow base," she said.
But her opponent for the nomination, Mike Farris of Loudoun County, said the tent will fall down on the party if it weakens the most conservative poles holding it up, such as opposition to abortion and support for limited government.
"My opponent personifies this compromise approach to policy," said Farris, president and founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association. "No wonder the voters often feel there are no real choices."
Farris said his staunch conservatism sets him apart from both Kilberg and Democratic Lt. Gov. Donald Beyer. "You can't beat Don Beyer unless you are different from Don Beyer," he said.
But Kilgore accused Farris of "recruiting single-issue delegates" and setting up an ideological battle that could divide the party.
Farris and Kilgore downplayed the abortion issue, which draws the clearest distinction between them, saying it is not critical to the campaign.
"I am strongly opposed to abortion, but I will not impose that on any other women," Kilberg said. "I think that is where the majority of Virginians are on this issue."
Farris said he is solidly anti-abortion, but added, "I am not turning this election into a litmus test on abortion."
Farris criticized a proposal by Del. Clinton Miller, a Republican candidate for governor, to eliminate the abortion plank from the national party platform. Miller said Friday he would ask the GOP state convention to pass a resolution asking the national party to drop the abortion stance.
"I think it's wrong for both reasons of policy and politics. It would drive away key components of Republican workers if he's successful," Farris said. "I don't think he has a ghost of a chance of being successful."
Keywords:
POLITICS