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dents have led some to observe that he seems to be caught in a time warp and still thinks he’s running against Robb in the 1981 campaign for governor.
In spite of his efforts, however, Republican insiders say he is trailing Durrette in the governorship nomination race. Further, they are convinced that Coleman is well aware of this and that his real target is the number two spot. They also believe he is using his putative candidacy for governor as a highly effective device for increasing his name recognition and budding political capital for ftiture use. At the proper time they expect him to bow out of the governor’s race “for the sake of party unity” and announce that he would accept the lieutenant governor nomination.
All this, of course, makes the other candidates for that office terribly nervous, and when politicians become nervous, they do what comes naturally. That is, they step up their own political activity in order to protect their turf, intervening elections or no. So it is with the budding crop of GOP lieutenant governor hopefuls.
Each is persuaded that the nomination, with Wilder as an opponent, would almost automatically put him in a bully position to go for the Governor’s Mansion in 1969. It’s a prospect worth fighting for.
But will Wilder be the Democratic nominee?
After the senator’s formal announcement of his candidacy earlier this year, it was generally thought he would be given the nod without opposition. This was mainly because the Democratic leadership could see no way to deny him the nomination without one of those party-shredding traumas which Wilder is capable of visiting upon the Democrats when he feels affronted.
It now appears, however, that the interest of other potential candidates may be stirring.
For example, Charlottesville attorney George Gilliam admits to an interest in entering the race. Gilliam is president of the state Community College Board i of VMters and was the uiwk-' •»-. - cessful candidate in a fairly dose 7th District race for Congress in 1 1974.
Thus, as the summer fades into autumn, the Democrats are agonizing over how they can deal fairly with a contested Wilder candidacy next year without making him mad.
The Republicans, on the other hand, are solidly in the senator’s corner. Rightly or wrongly, they are convinced that keeping him on the Democratic ticket is the key to all manner of GOP successes when the 1985 elections roll around.
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