Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 4 · column 8 of 9 · from the scan, no model involved
GOP's expectations, the Democrats at their convention nominated Lt. Gov. Richard Davis as their Senate candidate.
Mr. Davis will present a difficult target for the conservn ■'S. A political moderr . he rose from an impoverished boyhood to become a lawyer, investment bank-er and millionaire. He would personify the Reaganite dream of what America is all about, if only he weren’t a Democrat.
He will be hard to tar with a liberal brush.
Too Much
It was all too much for Sen. Byrd. On Monday of last week, to the stunned disbelief of many in the Old Guard, he threw in the towel. He said he was going ahead with his ret.rement plans.
His editorial and political critics of a few days before now hailed his decision as a statesmanlike gesture made in the interest of conservative unity.
This, of course, is nonsense.
What happened is he w as muscled out of running by a new and younger conservative coalition built around, and loyal to, the Republican party. This Republican coalition was forced to choose between asserting itself as a legitimate and respectable political force, or. on the other hand, knuckling under and thus standing revealed as little more than a handmaiden of Sen. Byrd and the independent conservatives.
And so the party asserted itself. Probably to its own surprise, and certainly to the outraged dismay of some of Sen. Byrd's supporters. the senator backed down.
It was this successful defiance of Sen. Byrd which gives the incident its historic character. Never before had such a thing happened.
If Byrd's original retirement announcement last November, delivered with grace and dignity, was the symbolic end of the Byrd era, the almost brutal crushing of his comeback attempt was its real end.
What all this does to the future influence within the party of Mr. Godwin and other Republicans who were ready to defect in order to support the Byrd bid only time will tell.
Nor is it clear what influence, if any, Mr. Byrd himself can retain on the future course of politics in the state.
Spurn of Rebellion
It was a spasm of rebellion which has shaken and divided Old Dominion conservatives. In the context of Virginia politics, the Second Coming would have created hardly as much stir as did Sen. Byrd’s Second Going.
But in terms of spirit, if not numbers, the Republican party probably gained strength and confidence from the episode.
As Richmond political writer Tyler Whitley put it, “For a week the Republicans and Byrd stood eyeball to eyeball - and then Byrd blinked!”
85.6%