3 Editorial U.S. Senate Races This years contest to

3

Editorial

U.S. Senate Races

This years contest to elect a U.S. Senator from Virginia will apparently continue as a combination of comedy and tragedy right up through November.

Next weekend Republican delegates convene in Richmond to choose between Oliver North and Jim Miller. The Miller campaign claims it is now narrowly ahead in delegate votes. Meanwhile the North campaign claims it has more than enough delegates to nominate Col. North.

Then Tuesday June 14 any registered voter can go to the polls and vote in the Democratic primary. Incumbent Sen. Charles Robb is being challenged for the nomination by Sylvia Chute of Richmond, State Sen. Virgil Goode of Rocky Mount and Nancy Spanaus, a follower of Lyndon LaRouche. In spite of Mary Sue Terry’s endorsement of Sen. Goode Tuesday, he remains relatively unknown.

Former Gov. Douglas Wilder having challenged Sen. Robb to compete in a primary or face Wilder as an independent, decided not to enter the primary, but is saying he still might run as an independent if Robb wins the primary.

In the meantime Virginia’s other senator John Warner is apparently urging other Republicans to run as independents if Col. North wins at the Republican convention.

It seems likely that Col. North and Sen. Robb will indeed be their parties’ nominees if only because they have built up the largest war chests for the campaign.

In the three or four-way race which is shaping up for November Col. North, whose supporters are the most fanatical, is likely to prevail. Virginians had better get used to the sound of “Sen. North.”

Many Virginians have taken comfort from knowing that at least they weren’t represented in the United States Senate by Jesse Helms. Soon North Carolinians will be able to claim that at least neither or their senators has been convicted of a felony.