Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 8, 1995 TAG: 9511080049
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KIMBERLY N. MARTIN AND SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Despite Republican attack campaigns, Roanoke Valley voters re-elected three Democratic delegates and sent Republican state Sen. Brandon Bell packing his bags.
"There's a civility that ought to be in politics. We're civilized people, and we can have disputes without demonizing each other," Del. Clifton "Chip" Woodrum said, with the crowd at the Democratic headquarters at the Patrick Henry Hotel chiming in its approval.
"The governor should take heed from the vote," said Woodrum, who was facing opposition in his bid for re-election for the first time in 10 years. His opposition was the well-financed Newell Falkinburg, a physician.
"I think that's one thing that blew the Republicans out a little bit, that negative stuff," said Del. Vic Thomas, D-Roanoke. "It's time for us to cut that out. I'd like to see the people demand that they cut it out,"
Del. Richard Cranwell, who won re-election against an opponent who touted herself as a loyal follower of Gov. George Allen, said the election laws should be changed so that the kind of campaigns that just ended can't be repeated.
Voters are confused by wrong things they are told and by inaccurate written information distributed, and that system can't continue, Cranwell said.
Republican campaign brochures that accused him of voting against the death penalty when, in fact, he co-sponsored a bill in favor were immoral "if not illegal," he said.
There ought to be a civil or criminal penalty connected to a finding of "reckless misrepresentation," he said.
He said he had the material to strike back at the negative campaign waged by his opponent, and part of him wanted to do just that, but the other part of him said no.
"Somebody had to stand above that kind of campaign," he said. "We took the high road and fought the fair fight."
Cranwell said he is reading a book that says if a person "succumbs to the hard side of the human being, you lose your ability to be compassionate."
Republicans waged negative, cookie-cutter campaigns orchestrated from Richmond, and the Democrats' biggest problem was dealing with that mass strategy, he said.
In the end, the attack campaigns may have done more good for the Democrats than for the attackers, he said.
"In our tracking polls, it was obvious that Trixie [Averill]'s attack ads were moving her negatives up faster than they were moving my negatives up," Cranwell said.
Woodrum also avoided replying to his opponent's direct-mail and television ads that cast him as a career politician who was soft on crime.
He credits his "positive campaign, the emphasis on education and the people understanding that I wasn't going to write a blank check for anyone based on any Richmond or Washington agenda" for his return to the legislature.
Sixth District Democratic Chairman Onzlee Ware said Richmond and national politics were the catalyst for bringing voters to the polls in droves.
In the city's predominantly black precincts, which Ware called "pivotal," voter turnout was significantly higher than it was in 1991 - the last time all 140 General Assembly seats were up for election.
"Had [voter turnout] been like it was in 1991, Chip Woodrum and John Edwards would've had problems," said Ware, who dismisses the suggestion that Edwards' radio ads targeting the black community made the difference. "John Edwards had nothing to do with it. It had something to do with blacks in the community organizing themselves against Governor Allen's agenda."
What message does this election send to Allen?
"That he's gone too far," state Sen.-elect John Edwards said. "The governor's agenda is too rigid and is too ideological. I think we need to make progress based on practical solutions to real problems."
Whether the Democrats' showing will make Allen a "lame duck" in politics depends upon Allen's attitude, said Cranwell.
"Governor Allen won't be a lame duck if he can put the in-your-face, mean-spirited politics aside," he said. "If he doesn't, he will defeated by his own anger."
Cranwell's entrance into the victory celebration at his headquarters at LancerLot Sports Complex in Vinton was low-key.
He smiled when he acknowledged the wins of fellow Democrats, noting that Edwards had "annihilated" the Republican incumbent.
However, he told supporters that he "has laid the anger aside" and encouraged them to do the same.
Cranwell said the Democrats should have won a House of Delegates seat in Lynchburg they wound up losing. And he called the loss of Senate Majority Leader Hunter Andrews of Hampton a "real tragedy."
Keywords:
ELECTION
by CNB