THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 4, 1994 TAG: 9406040245
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE AND MARGARET EDDS, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: 940604 LENGTH: RICHMOND
But J. Marshall Coleman, a former state attorney general and two-time GOP candidate for governor, was an unseen presence as more than 14,000 delegates picked up credentials for a two-day convention that many fear will splinter the party this fall.
{REST} Capping an emotionally charged nomination fight, the delegates will choose today between former federal budget director James C. Miller III and Iran-Contra figure Oliver L. North.
The convention has drawn international attention because the front-runner is North, a gung-ho conservative who has become a polarizing symbol of a cultural divide in American politics.
Party leaders required every delegate to sign a loyalty oath upon arriving at the convention, mostly because Miller's backers - who consider themselves more mainstream than North's - have made so much noise about bolting the party if their man isn't nominated.
But the oaths aren't binding. In a random survey of 18 Miller delegates, eight said they would not vote for North despite signing an affirmation that they ``intend to support'' the party's nominee. Three said they were undecided.
``I don't trust Ollie North,'' said Robert Martin of Woodbridge. ``He misused his office. . . . When he was caught, he wrapped himself in the flag. He's been making money hand-over-fist ever since.
``As for the oath, I signed it. But as a free American, I get to make up my mind on my own.''
The beneficiary of GOP discontent promises to be Coleman, who has positioned himself for an independent campaign should the convention choose North.
Coleman, who will stay away from the convention, has refused to comment on his plans. But supporters have been gathering signatures to put him on the ballot, and Republican U.S. Sen. John W. Warner said last week he would buck the party if North is nominated and would campaign for Coleman this fall.
Perhaps the surest signal that Coleman is serious about running is the ferocity with which Republican leaders denounced their former standard-bearer.
Noting that Coleman has shifted his philosophical positions to fit different campaigns in a 20-year political career, GOP Chairman Patrick McSweeney said, ``Now he is clearly moving to the left. You do that only so many times until there's nothing left but charred matter.''
But those who predict the flameout of Coleman's political career have been wrong before.
After Coleman lost the governor's race in 1981, his standing in the party was so low that Republicans refused to nominate him for lieutenant governor four years later.
In 1989, Coleman surprised doubters by scoring an upset win in the party's primary for governor. That fall, he received the largest number of votes of any previous Republican candidate in state history, but fell about 7,000 votes shy of victory.
While some in the party tag him as a two-time loser, analysts say Coleman may carry less baggage among general voters than others in the race for the Senate seat now held by Democrat Charles S. Robb.
North is viewed negatively by about half of Virginia voters, according to recent polls. Many cite North's three overturned felony convictions from the Iran-Contra scandal: obstructing Congress, destroying documents and accepting an illegal gratuity - a $13,000 security fence. The convictions later were struck down on a technicality.
Robb, the likely Democratic nominee, also has suffered in opinion polls because of news accounts about his private life. A fourth possible candidate is former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, who has all but announced that he will run as an independent if Robb wins the nomination. Wilder also had high negative poll numbers when he left office in January.
Not all Miller supporters - even those who enthusiastically backed Coleman in the past - are happy about the prospect of Coleman making it a four-way race.
Del. Vincent F. Callahan Jr., a McLean Republican who led a group that was crucial to Coleman winning the GOP primary in 1989, urged Coleman to give up thoughts of an independent bid.
``If he wants to guarantee Ollie North getting elected, the best thing for him to do is run,'' Callahan said. ``North has a better shot getting elected (if) more people are in the field.''
Analysts agree that while North is disliked by perhaps a majority of Virginia voters, his hard-core group of supporters may be enough for him to win a four-way race.
Gilbert Butler, a Roanoke Republican who served as Coleman's 6th District coordinator in 1989, said he would be bound to support the party nominee, even though he said that a Coleman victory in a four-way race ``isn't a pie-in-the-sky scenario.''
``The problem with bolting the party,'' Butler said, ``is that you don't get out and get back in. I'd bring nothing but heartache upon myself if I did that.''
But Garland Bigley, an early Coleman supporter in the 1989 primary, said she may leave the party if North is nominated.
``At some point,'' Bigley said, ``if I find there's credibility to opinions from people who are denouncing Ollie in terms heretofore unheard of in Virginia politics, then I will vote for another candidate.''
{KEYWORDS} SENATE RACE CANDIDATE REPUBLICAN STATE CONVENTION
by CNB