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rows. He’ll have lots of money to spend on staff and media, - no statewide shoestring campaign this time, - and a largely unified party.
If he can use that nice launching pad to attract enough of the swing independent vote, he will become the first black elected governor of any state in modern times.
Of course, countless pitfalls loom ahead in all contests for governor, the state’s most prestigious election. But Mr. Wilder is capable of putting together a crafty campaign that earns him victory by a percentage point or two.
Republicans who think their nominee can coast into the Governor’s Mansion are indulging in dangerous self-delusion. If 1985 proved anything, it’s that anyone who runs against Doug Wilder must be willing to tackle him head-on without fear of being labeled a racist. They must seek to identify him with Jesse Jackson’s social agenda and the propensity of national Democrats to welcome all sorts of tax and spend programs.
A Wilder win will cook the goose of the Virginia Republican Party throughout much of the 1990s and leave it with only Eddy Dalton as the great hope of the future.
■John Goal rick, a reporter tcho covered the General Assembly and Virginia politics nearly 25 years, is note an aide to 7th District Rep. I). French Slaughter .Jr..
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