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 5 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
By GEORGE BOWLES
Virginia’s politician watchers are waiting with more than passing interest for the Old Dominion’s other political shoe to drop during thisweekend.
With the state Republican convention now history, and its ticket squabbles settled, the state’s Democrats will convene in the Richmond Coliseum Friday and Saturday to ratify their unopposed slate of statewide, candidates and to elect their central committee officers.
There’s not much doubt about who those candidates will be. Barring some totally unforeseen circumstances, Attorney General Gerald L. Baliles will be nominated for governor. Sen. L. Douglas Wilder of Richmond for lieutenant governor and Del. Mary Sue Terry of Patrick for attorney general.
The prospective Democratic candidates, accompanied by Gov. Charles S. Robb and other party leaders, made a flying trip around the state on the eve of the Republican convention last week. According to its organizers, the purpose of the trip was to demonstrate the unity of the party behind its tradition-shattering array of candidates. For the first time in the history of the Commonwealth a black. Wilder, and a woman, Terry, will be seeking statewide offices.
The actual purpose of the campaign swing, however, beside its value as a show of unity, was to unsettle and hector the GOP, which faced a bitter struggle for the party’s lieutenant governor nomination. The Demo. cratic convention, on the other hand, is expected to be a veritable hymn to party harmony, concord and political peace.
Of course, it may not work out that wav. but that’s the plan.
A part . the euphoria which seems to be enveloping the Democrats as their convention approaches may be the result of a cautious but quietly spreading reassessment of Wilder’s chances in the campaign.
Earlier this year those chances were put at near zero by both politicians and political analysts. No political prognosticatewas willing to believe that a black, especially one who was perceived by many as having liberal leanings, would stand a ghost of a chance of winning a statewide election in conservative Virginia.
In recent weeks, however, many Democrats, even in the party’s conservative wing, are not quite so certain that Wilder’s effort is foredoomed to defeat. After a few early blunders, such as branding as racists some of
86.9%