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By JOHN GOOLRICK
Rappahannock News Special Writer
pough the formality of nominations still lies ahead, the Democratic team for this year’s statewide elections has essentially already taken the field readv to play ball.
pie early fielding of a lineup by a state party that has often done itself in at times in the past because of fractious intra-party strife gives it a major advantage in the time leading up to the start of the general election season.
Mary Sue Terry, Donald Beyer and William Dolan, the prospective nominees for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general respectively, are free to move around the state raising campaign cash and soliciting support without having to worry about hearing any footsteps behind them of rivals for the nominations.
It is only mid-April, a month in some bygone years when the Democratic candidates were at each other s throats, yet the threesome can await without apprehension the state convention at which they will be annointed.
By contrast, Republicans, who during the 1970s gained success by creating harmony within their own ranks and taking advantage of brutal Democratic infighting, are preparing for a monster convention of some 14,000 delegates who may create political warfare so intense all hope for party unity leading up to the fall election will be dashed.
That story will have to play itself out, but it is worth considering briefly how strong the team being fielded by the Democrats will be when the moment of truth arrives.
Certainly, on most of the surface it looks awesome. Ms. Terry won easily both times she ran for attorney general; Beyer, a political unknown, trounced the popular wife of a former governor in the 1989 general election; and Dolan, who is seeking public office for the first time, is astute, bright and good with people.
The ability of Ms. Terry to raise money is legendary, and the rest of the ticket should have no trouble in that regard either. And what had seemed to be an escalating feud between Terry and Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, one potentially harmful to her candidacy, has been mysteriously tamped down with Wilder opting to train his sights on Sen. Charles Robb.
The Democratic ticket will be formidable and its candidates undoubtedly the early favorites to win in a
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