presidential electors, and, presumably, a senatorial candidate to oppose

presidential electors, and, presumably, a senatorial candidate to oppose incumbent Republican John Warner.

But our concern here is the pair of mass meetings. These were held in some areas of the state at noon on March 24 and in others at 7:30 p.m. on March 26. Their outcome was instructive and, at least according to spokesmen for those involved, contained elements of victory for just about everybody.

The principal contestants were, of course, presidential candidates Walter Mondale, Jesse Jackson and Gary Hart. But in a sense there was s fourth man in the race, Gov. Chuck Robb, who had made a lukewarm pitch for the state to send an uncommitted delegation to the convention.

It is, perhaps, a testament to the confusion of the process that three days after the second mass meeting the State Democratic Party headquarters was unable to come up with final figures on the numbers of participants in the mass meetings, or with a number of delegates which squared with the total number to be elected. A spokesperson described the available figures as “98 percent accurate.” Hence those which follow are subject to change. v

Mondale, with 1,060 delegates, or 30 percent of the total, appeared to be the big winner. He was the candidate of the party’s liberal and labor constituent groups, and it would appear that these so-called estabUflbmentarian Democrats could claim at least a marginal triumph. £.1

But could they? The Rev. Jesse Jackson garnered only 920 delegates or 26 percent, but his supporters at the mass meetings outnumbered Mondale’s by a count of 7,740 to 6,889. Just why he trailed in the delegates count while having the most popular votes had a number of party people scratching their heads and wondering about the vagaries of the selection system.

Beyond this seeming inconsistency, however, was the fact that Jackson had scored a stunning success. His voter registration drive and his visit to the state paid off handsomely.

That success had almost immediate repercussions in state politics. Sen. Douglas Wilder of Richmond says he is “as close to being a candidate for lieutenant governor next year as one can be without announcing for the office.” He said, in effect the Jackson turnout proved that black voting power in the state was no longer a token thing, but a genuine display of political power.

“I feel tremendously buoyed by it,” said Wilder.

Actually, Jackson came in third in the delegate count, running behind the uncommitteds, who won 972, or 28 percent, of the delegates. The uncommitted strength was immediately proclaimed to be a fine showing of support for the governor by party Chairman Alan Diamonstein.

Sen. Gary Hart picked up only 507 or 14 percent of the delegates. His last-place position in the race disappointed but did not necessarily surprise his supporters. They took heart (no pun intended) in the fact that he was working the state with an all-volunteer staff, had not visited Virginia, and had only a skeleton organization. A fairly extensive media mini-blitz in the days just before the mass meetings failed to overcome Hart’s other handicaps.

Just how all this will shake out when the district and state conventions get around to slicing up the 78member delegation to the national convention is anybody’s guess. The answer lies in the real composition of that large uncommitted delegation. It is believed to harbor proponents of all three candidates, but to be made up mainly of those whose watchword is, “Anybody But Mondale!” That “anybody” could include Hart or some compromise convention candidate whose name has not yet surfaced. The Old Dominion’s moderate and conservative democmic record Mondale’s candidacy as fordoomed to disaster, both in Virginia and nationally.

In view of all this, it is clear that Virginia Democrats still have a rough row to hoe before they depart for San Francisco in July.