THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 18, 1994 TAG: 9408180546
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Virginia's laughing cavalier, U.S. Sen. John Warner, says he has an ``immovable commitment'' to run for a fourth term in 1996 and will be ready to take on ``any and all challengers fair and square'' in a GOP primary.
Warner made his own determination plain for a race two years hence even as he was urging support for independent candidate Marshall Coleman, former Republican attorney general, in this year's four-way race for the Senate.
Some GOP officials have criticized Warner for refusing to support Oliver North, nominated at a Republican convention on June 3.
But in a fund-raising letter for Coleman, Warner wrote, ``I simply cannot ask you . . . to put your trust and confidence in Oliver North. That's why I'm supporting Marshall Coleman to give you a choice.''
GOP State Chairman Patrick McSweeney replied: ``I'm not going to make Warner important enough to respond to (his letter). He's not a Republican.''
But then McSweeney added: ``Sen. Warner is going to have to come back and explain to Republicans . . . why he should be nominated for re-election.''
In defending his refusal to back North, Warner wrote: ``Much has been said about me, pro and con, in recent months. I believe I have a right, indeed an obligation, to exercise leadership in my party.
``No matter how strong the voices of my critics, I am the only Virginia Republican who has won three statewide races. I have met the test of the voters. Am I not entitled to an opinion on how to win?''
Warner has won soaring ratings in polls of Virginians. Often in Virginia, Republicans and Democrats cross party lines in voting.
The likelihood is that in 1996 many Democrats would swell the Republican ranks to vote for Warner's nomination in a spring GOP primary and then vote for him again in November's general election.
Opting for a broad statewide primary for Warner in 1996 rather than a GOP convention, his camp rests its case on a state law that a candidate for Congress, after being elected by a primary, shall be nominated by a primary in the next election unless the candidate chooses otherwise.
Under that reading, incumbent Warner may pick his own ground on which to fight two years hence, primary or convention.
The Virginia GOP executive committee has authorized McSweeney to look into the costs of bringing a lawsuit to overturn the law, its executive director, David Johnson, has said.
Meanwhile, in his letter urging support for Coleman this year, Warner also took a swing at Sen. Charles Robb, a Democrat who is seeking re-election. He contended that Robb has canceled his own conservative vote ``many times.''
The fourth candidate this year is former Democratic Gov. Doug Wilder, running as an independent.
The exuberant Warner has not attacked him. Yet.
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE CANIDATE by CNB