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Mr. Coleman, during his unsuccessful bid for governor in 1981, when he was beaten by Democrat Charles S. Robb, spent his entire campaign trying to convince the conservative wing of the state GOP, headed by former Gov. Mills Godwin, that he wasn’t a closet liberal.
The effort left a public impression he was waffling and certainly contributed to his defeat.
When Linwood Hilton became the first Republican governor of the century by beating Democrat John S. Battle in 1969, Battle’s biggest problem was trying to patch things up with the liberal Henry Howell wing of his party. He wasn’t able to do it and the resulting disunity probably cost him the election.
Gov. Godwin, himself, faced serious intra-party problems in 1973 when he ran for governor as a Republican after previously serving as a Democrat.
His conversion was looked on with suspicion by many party regulars of the Holton mold who didn’t particularly like his strong conservatism. He narrowly beat Howell in that race, primarily because he was able to attract conservative Democrats to his candidacy.
In any campaign there are real issues and there are issues that are borderline, running more toward form than substance.
Certain the question of abortion rights-is a principal issue in the 1989 race. Add to that the issues of drug abuse, transportation, education, health and numerous others that have a direct impact on voters.
Yet issues always arise that have, perhaps, more heat than substance. Coleman has already accused Wilder of owning slum property in Richmond and may inject other allegations against the Democrat that have been floated from time to time. The Wilder camp is reportedly considering dredging up some personal accusations that have been made against Coleman in the course of his long career in politics.
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