ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, June 12, 1996 TAG: 9606120052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WARREN FISKE STAFF WRITER
NOTE: lede
Defying conservative leaders who branded him a traitor, U.S. Sen. John Warner turned to the public Tuesday and cruised to a landslide victory in the Republican primary election.
Unofficial results showed Warner capturing 66 percent of the vote in his victory over Jim Miller, a former federal budget chief under President Reagan.
Warner, 69, will be the favorite to win a fourth term this fall against Democrat Mark Warner, an Alexandria cellular telephone magnate who is not related to the incumbent.
In refusing to back two recent high-profile Republican candidates who came from the party's most conservative faction - Oliver North for Senate and Mike Farris for lieutenant governor - John Warner outraged many of the party loyalists who dominate the state party. His triumph was widely seen as a repudiation of those views.
"My good friends, I came in second. Virginia, as a state, came in first," a subdued Warner told about 250 cheering supporters at his Richmond victory celebration. "We're ever so fortunate as Virginians to live in such a great state of people, common sense and wisdom."
Miller, in his concession speech, called on Republicans to rally behind Sen. Warner this fall. He told supporters that they had succeeded in pressuring Warner to begin voting more conservatively, alluding to a number of studies showing Warner has drifted to the right in the past year.
"This campaign is not a rejection of the conservative ideas we have been talking about," he told about 100 supporters. "We even changed the behavior of a U.S. senator."
Miller, 53, was noncommittal about his political future. It was his second unsuccessful bid for the GOP Senate nomination; in 1994 he lost a convention fight to North.
"Maybe I'm too honest and too intellectual to be a full-blown politician," he said. "I don't know. I'll leave that for others to decide."
Almost 480,000 of Virginia's 3.03million voters - or 16.1 percent - cast ballots. The turnout was higher than in the past two primaries held in the state: a 1989 Republican contest for governor and a 1994 Democratic race for the U.S. Senate.
Warner racked up huge victories in the urban and suburban corridor arching from Northern Virginia to Hampton Roads - losing only eight counties in far Southwest Virginia, a smattering of localities in the Shenandoah Valley and two rural counties around Richmond.
"John Warner has to be extremely happy that he not only fended off the challenge, but he did so convincingly," said Bob Holsworth, a political scientist at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Unofficial results showed him carrying 73 percent of the vote in Hampton Roads, where he argued that his senior status on the Senate Armed Services Committee would protect defense-related jobs on Naval bases and in shipyards.
The senator unofficially won 75 percent of the vote in Northern Virginia and 59 percent in the Richmond metropolitan area. He won 71 percent of the vote in the Roanoke Valley.
Even in the state's rural areas, which Miller claimed as his stronghold, Warner appeared to at least break even. Miller mustered only 51 percent of the vote in Greene County, where he has long owned a cabin.
The victory snubbed the conservative wing of the state GOP, which had urged Warner's defeat. Outside the deep southwest corner of the state, Miller failed to carry a region despite the support of the Christian conservatives, the National Rifle Association and a national organization backing term limits.
"My sense is that this is going to have long-term repercussions for the Republican Party," Holsworth said. "Moderate conservatives are going to argue that these results demonstrate that people who have a very narrow appeal have exercised much too much influence in the Virginia Republican Party."
Many party activists had been furious at Warner's refusal to back two nominees - home-schooling proponent Farris in 1993 and Iran-Contra figure North in 1994.
At a state GOP convention this month, Miller won the support of the delegates in a straw poll by a 3-1 margin and received a rousing endorsement from North.
Warner's easy primary victory "proves decisively that the activist core that turns up at conventions is out of touch with the broad sector of Republicans in the state," said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist.
Sabato said the results were particularly devastating to Republican evangelicals. Miller has received backing from Farris and a widely publicized $1,000 contribution from religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, and he has received favorable reviews on a voter's guide published by the Christian Coalition.
"The results tonight show the Christian Coalition can't even win a Republican primary," Sabato said.
From the start, the campaign was a referendum on Warner's loyalty to the state Republican Party. Warner had long irritated the Christian conservative wing of the GOP by his stands on abortion and other social issues and in 1987 by voting against the nomination of Robert Bork for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Warner further alienated the right wing in 1993 when he refused to endorse the party's nominee for lieutenant governor, Michael P. , a home schooling advocate. The final break came when he opposed North's candidacy, labeling him as dishonest.
Warner recruited and endorsed Independent Marshall Coleman in the 1994 race, an action many Republicans believe split conservative votes just enough to allow Democrat Charles Robb to be re-elected.
Former state Republican chairman Patrick McSweeney and other GOP leaders criticized Warner's action as an unpardonable betrayal of the party. Warner defended his deeds as an expression of conscience.
On issues, there was not much separating the candidates. Miller ran to the right of Warner on social issues such as abortion and gun control. He also endorsed term limits and vowed not to serve more than 12 years if elected to the Senate. Warner, who has held the seat since 1979, opposed limitations. On defense and economic matters, the candidates were largely in agreement.
For many voters, Warner's decision to go against the party's conservative faction was the deciding factor - but not the way many GOP activists would have liked.
"I'm getting tired of hearing McSwiney squeal," said Bill Ballentine of Roanoke, in a derogatory reference to McSweeney, the GOP party chairman.
Joe M. Williams of Pulaski said North's endorsement of Miller helped persuade him to vote for Warner. "I'm voting against Ollie North," he said.
Claude Thompson of Dublin had similar thoughts. He voted for Warner "because I don't want Pat Robertson to run the state."
Some Warner supporters freely admitted they were Democrats. "I'm voting for Warner so that Miller doesn't get in," said Carole Aspell of Roanoke.
Todi Minitree of Christianburg said she didn't think there was anything wrong with voting in a Republican primary even though she considers herself a Democrat. "They said it was open to everyone. I try not to miss an election."
Other Warner supporters simply cited his seniority. "When you get an experienced man, you might as well hold to him," said Claude Wray of Roanoke.
Staff writers Paul Dellinger, Michael Croan, Kathy Loan and Dwayne Yancey contributed to this report.
From the start, the campaign was a referendum on Warner's loyalty to the state Republican Party. Warner had long irritated the dominant Christian conservative wing of the GOP by his stands on abortion and other social issues and in 1987 by voting against the nomination of Robert Bork for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Warner further alienated the right wing in 1993 when he refused to endorse the party's nominee for lieutenant governor, Michael P. , a home schooling advocate the party nominee for the U.S. Senate, former Iran-contra figure Oliver L. North.
Warner recruited and endorsed Independent Marshall Coleman in the 1994 race, an action many Republicans believe split conservative votes just enough to allow Democrat Charles Robb to be re-elected.
Former state Republican chairman Patrick McSweeney and other GOP leaders criticized Warner's action as a unpardonable betrayal of the party. Warner defended his deeds as an expression of conscience.
GOP leaders hoped to make this year's nomination at a state convention, a process dominated by a few thousand party activists who were thought likely to oppose Warner. The senator, however, defied the party by invoking a little-known state law that allowed him to insist on a primary. McSweeney unsuccessfully sought to challenge the law in federal court.
Warner, 69, thought most voters who participated in a Republican primary would not care about his tiffs with the party. The three-term incumbent argued that his seniority was important to Virginia, particularly his standing as the second-most senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Warner's incumbency helped him raise $2.5million, while Miller collected $1million. Thirty-one percent of Warner's money was donated by political action committees, many of them representing defense contractors.
Warner's bankroll paid for a series of negative and sometimes misleading TV commercials alleging that Miller, as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission in the early 1980s, spent more than $100,000 redecorating his offices and flying first class on airplanes.
Miller's financially strapped campaign could not afford television advertising and was unable to respond to Warner's charges.
On issues, there was not much separating the candidates. Miller ran to the right of Warner on social issues such as abortion and gun control. He also endorsed term limits and vowed not to serve more than 12 years if elected to the Senate. Warner, who has held the seat since 1979, opposed limitations. On defense and economic matters, the candidates were largely in agreement.
LENGTH: Long : 172 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. 1. Sen. John Warner won in a primary that some sayby CNBcould have a long-term impact on the Republican Party in Virginia.
color. (headshots) 2. Carl Funk. 3. Debra Saunders. 4. Jackie
Taibert. 5. Ryne Kipps. 6. Barbara Bower. 7. Roger Clay. 8. Freida
Clay. 9. Jim Talbert. Graphic: Charts: Voice of the voters. B&W.
Republican Primary '96. color. KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESS