THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 22, 1995 TAG: 9510220041
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT, VA. LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
A billboard that reads ``Elect Virgil Goode and Allen Dudley'' has infuriated some local Democrats who say Goode, a Democrat, shouldn't link himself with a Republican.
Goode, a conservative state senator from Rocky Mount who is running unopposed for re-election, says he never endorsed the billboard. But he said he didn't object to it, either.
Dudley, R-Rocky Mount, also says he didn't object to the sign.
But to some Franklin County Democrats, the billboard is physical evidence of what has been rumored for months: Goode is unwilling to endorse publicly Dudley's challenger, Democrat Claude Whitehead of Pittsylvania County.
``This could cost Claude the election,'' said Eric Ferguson, the county's party chairman. ``I mean you're talking about a man (Goode) who is viewed as the spiritual leader of the Democratic Party around here.''
Several county political independents paid for the advertisement, said county Republican Chairman Carthan Currin, who also runs the company that owns the billboard.
County Democrats have posted some joint Goode-Whitehead signs. Goode says he told Ferguson the same thing he told those behind the Goode-Dudley billboard.
``As party chairman, I told him to do as he saw fit,'' Goode said. ``But do those signs say that I authorized them? No.''
Goode and Dudley went to high school together and both have lived their lives in Franklin County. One story is that Whitehead supported Democratic U.S. Sen. Charles Robb - something Whitehead disputes - when Goode sought the Democratic nomination for Robb's seat in 1994.
Whitehead said he circulated a petition for Goode before the 1994 primary and then decided not to vote for either candidate.
Goode ``has no reason to be mad at me,'' Whitehead said.
While he hasn't endorsed Whitehead, Goode has shown up at several Democratic functions for the candidate in the past few months.
Republicans are enjoying the brouhaha.
``If the Democrats nominated more Virgil Goodes, they'd be in better shape,'' Currin said. by CNB