ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, April 26, 1996 TAG: 9604260053
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MCLEAN
SOURCE: Associated Press
CLAIMING VOTING IRREGULARITIES and voter fraud by the Virginia Democratic Party and supporters of her opponent Mark Warner, the former congresswoman bitterly gives up the fight.
Leslie Byrne closed down her underdog campaign for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate on Thursday, acknowledging that Mark Warner has the nomination locked up.
But she did not go quietly.
Byrne said the Virginia Democratic Party and Warner supporters strong-armed would-be Byrne voters during the recent party caucuses and committed outright voter fraud in some cases.
In at least one instance, in Prince William County, black supporters of Byrne were quizzed by voting officials before receiving their ballots, Byrne charged.
``The process was designed for a preordained outcome,'' she said. ``This was more like the Virginia of the pre-civil rights era. I thought we left those things behind in the 1960s.''
Warner, a multimillionaire telecommunication executive and the former state Democratic Party chairman, led Byrne by a delegate margin of nearly 10-to-1 after the statewide caucuses April 11-15.
``If I were the presumptive nominee, I would first of all make sure this type of shenanigans in elections would never happen again,'' Byrne said during a news conference.
``I'd ask for a full investigation, and I'd make sure my own hands were clean in that process.''
Byrne did not formally withdraw from the Senate race, saying that by remaining a candidate on paper she holds better legal standing for a challenge to the Virginia caucus system.
Byrne filed a complaint with the Justice Department this month alleging violations of federal election law in the caucuses. She claimed voting irregularities in at least 42 localities.
``The Justice Department is looking at it very carefully,'' Byrne said. ``There is also the possibility of a civil suit'' if federal investigators decline to take the case.
At the caucuses, Democratic voters picked delegates to a state nominating convention to be held in June. Voters also picked delegates for the presidential convention.
In some jurisdictions, voters got different Senate ballots based on their presidential choice. That meant voters were unable to choose among the entire slate of Senate delegates, Byrne's complaint said.
``This is segregation, pure and simple,'' she said.
Sue Wrenn, chairman of the Democratic Party, said Byrne had plenty of time of object to the process before voting began.
``She did not choose to do that,'' Wrenn said.
Byrne released delegates who had pledged to vote for her over Warner, but would not endorse him.
``If I am asked, and I have not been asked, I will give it prayerful thought,'' she said.
Warner, who all but declared himself the winner last week, was conciliatory Thursday.
``I hope that Leslie and her supporters will join me as I fight for families across Virginia,'' he said through a spokesman.
Many party activists urged Byrne not to run, because Warner was long considered the favorite. She raised little money compared with Warner, and was considered a long shot from the start.
A different caucus arrangement probably would not have altered the outcome, Byrne acknowledged Thursday.
``I have never shied away from a fair fight'' and would have accepted the results without complaint, she said.
The nomination battle left her so bitter that she cannot imagine again seeking public office in Virginia, the former congresswoman said.
``To quote my favorite philosopher, Lily Tomlin, `If you win a rat race, you're still a rat,''' she said.
Warner still faces nominal Democratic opposition from Nancy Spannaus, a follower of Lyndon LaRouche.
The Republican candidate will be chosen in a June 11 primary election between three-term Sen. John Warner and former Reagan administration budget director Jim Miller.
John Warner and Mark Warner are not related.
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS SENATEby CNB