Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 25, 1993 TAG: 9307250173
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
This year's election for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general, matching Democrats Mary Sue Terry, Don Beyer and Bill Dolan against Republicans George Allen, Mike Farris and Jim Gilmore "is a real debate about the future of Virginia and the way we lead our lives," said Warner. He was a guest at the county Democratic Party's annual summer picnic.
Warner described the Republican candidates as the ticket of religious conservatives who seized control of this spring's state GOP convention.
Three incidents that occurred during the last two weeks illustrate the religious right's influence, he said:
Republican gubernatorial candidate Allen attended a fund-raiser hosted by Virginia Beach televangelist Pat Robertson.
Allen and lieutenant governor candidate Farris appeared at a fund-raiser for an all-white private academy in Amelia County.
Farris claimed that abortion increases a woman's chance of getting breast cancer.
The Republican candidates with their "out-to-lunch" kind of views represent "a kind of leadership that wants to take Virginia backwards," Warner said.
He warned the 150 or so Democrats at the picnic that if they don't match the zeal of the activists within the GOP that they could lose the fall election. "This is going to be a different kind of election and they're going to stop at nothing," he said.
Although the fall state and local elections were foremost on people's minds at the picnic, Richmond lawyer Sylvia Clute was there to remind Democrats of next year's U.S. Senate contest. Clute is challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. Chuck Robb for the party's Senate nomination.
"For four years we've had a senator and a governor who couldn't sit down and talk to each other because of their personal animosity," Clute said, referring to the well-publicized feud between Robb and Gov. Douglas Wilder. Clute, who got a good round of applause from the Democrats at the end of her speech, promised that would not be the case with her and Terry, if Terry is elected governor.
Eighth District and 12th District House of Delegates candidates Howard Packett of Salem and Jim Shuler of Blacksburg also spoke at the picnic, as did Jim Moore, Jim Martin and Jim Smith, candidates for the county board of supervisors in Districts A, D and C.
If Western Virginia doesn't want to lose influence in Richmond with the retirement of Del. Joan Munford of Blacksburg and Del. Ford Quillen of Gate City - two senior Democrats in the General Assembly - it's critical that Shuler and Packett be elected, said Rep. Rick Boucher of Abingdon.
It's important that the Democrats be elected because they can work with the Democratic leadership in the House of Delegates, the congressman said.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB