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Subject: Va. Democrat Wins Black-Majority District; Vote Is Close in Heated Race in New
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 04:54:43 EST
Message-ID: <4.1992Nov4.045444@AmeriCast.com>

Va. Democrat Wins Black-Majority District; Vote Is Close in Heat-
ed Race in New 11th<By Peter Baker=Washington Post Staff Writer=

State Sen. Robert C. Scott apparently won a downstate race for
Congress yesterday to become the first black person in a century
to represent Virginia on Capitol Hill, while early returns showed
a tight battle in Northern Virginia's newest congressional dis-
trict.

Scott, a Newport News Democrat making his second bid for
Congress, was declared the lopsided winner by the Associated
Press over Republican Daniel Jenkins in the newly redrawn 3rd
District, which stretches from Richmond to Norfolk and is 64 per-
cent black. Scott would be the first black Virginian in Congress
since John Mercer Langston served less than six months ending in
1891.

In the Washington suburbs, two sitting congressmen were leading
in early returns in the face of aggressive challenges.

Rep. Frank R.  Wolf (R) appeared having little trouble fending
off former state delegate Raymond E. Vickery Jr. (D) in his bid
for a seventh term. Freshman Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D) led  his
Republican opponent, lawyer Kyle E. McSlarrow, capping a bel-
licose campaign.

The tightest and most closely watched race was in the newly
created 11th District. Democrat Leslie L. Byrne had a razor-thin
lead over Republican Henry N. Butler in their bitter feud to cap-
ture a swing district targeted by both national parties.

In the only other race for a major office in Northern Virginia
this year, Arlington County Board member James B. Hunter III (D)
was outpolling Republican-backed independent Benjamin H. Winslow
Jr. in his quest for his first full term.

Virginia voters also considered a variety of bond issues, includ-
ing $613 million in state bonds to pay for new higher education,
mental health and park facilities that appeared on their way to
passage. In Fairfax, they appeared likely to endorse a $130 mil-
lion transportation bond issue; in Arlington, voters were approv-
ing $106.7 million for everything from Metro extension to school
renovations, and in Loudoun County, they voted whether to build a
new $15.4 million middle school.  Several Northern Virginia jur-
isdictions had other issues on the ballot as well.

In Loudoun, voters were rejecting a 4 percent restaurant meal
tax. In Manassas, they were deciding whether to become the first
Northern Virginia locality to elect School Board members. In
Fairfax City and Falls Church, they contemplated proposals for
off-track betting parlors.

Outside Northern Virginia, the most competitive congressional
races were in the 1st District in Tidewater and the 6th District
straddling the Allegheny Mountains. In the 1st, Rep. Herbert H.
Bateman (R) was leading in a high-priced rematch with former TV
journalist Andrew H. Fox (D), who nearly defeated Bateman in
1990. In the 6th, lawyer Robert W. Goodlatte (R) was leading
businessman Stephen A.  Musselwhite (D) for the seat of retiring
Rep. James R. Olin (D).

In the Washington area, the vitriolic battle in the new 11th Dis-
trict between Byrne and Butler offered the most political
theater.

The two spent more than $1.5 million to capture Northern
Virginia's first open seat in 20 years, in a contest so close and
so acerbic that it was featured at times by CNN, Congressional
Quarterly and even on television in Finland.

Both Byrne, 46, a seven-year state delegate, and Butler, 38, a
George Mason University law professor, cast each other as liars
and extremists, launching a barrage of withering television ads.

One of Butler's commercials showed a rolling record album chasing
a Byrne look-alike to symbolize her "running from her record" of
support for higher taxes - an ad cited by NBC's "Today" show, but
also criticized as misleading. Equally faulted were Byrne ads
accusing Butler of embracing "Pat Robertson's radical pro-life
agenda" even though Butler supports abortion rights in the first
trimester of pregnancy.

The campaign was also marked by sharp, mudslinging exchanges.

Butler accused Byrne of padding her re'sume' and branded her an
arrogant, tax-and-spend, anti-business liberal. Byrne labeled
Butler a trickle-down economist and alleged that he cheated on
his taxes, though there was no evidence of that.

Toward the end of the campaign, Butler's disclosure that he was
suspended from college in 1973 for falsely reporting his stereo
stolen to collect insurance provided Byrne further ammunition to
assault his character.

Just as vitriolic at times was the slugfest between Moran and
McSlarrow in the 8th District.  Moran, 47, who ousted Rep. Stan
Parris (R) in 1990 largely by pounding on Parris's antiabortion
position, ran much the same campaign this year, recycling the
same ad showing the Statue of Liberty behind bars to represent
what would happen to women if abortion was outlawed.

McSlarrow, 32, a first-time candidate, followed a classic anti-
Congress strategy and mounted a relentless assault on Moran's in-
tegrity.

Not only did he bring up Moran's 1984 conviction of a conflict-
of-interest offense, but McSlarrow also alleged that Moran tried
to protect campaign contributors from congressional investiga-
tions.

Such accusations drew heated denials from Moran and provoked
several shouting matches. During one debate, Moran became so en-
raged that he lashed back by attacking McSlarrow's teenage exper-
imentation with marijuana and cocaine, only to have to admit the
next day that he too tried marijuana as a young man.

Moran benefited from new district boundaries that encompass some
of Northern Virginia's most Democratic areas and earned an
avalanche of publicity for his successful battle against a pro-
posed Redskins stadium in Alexandria.

Wolf and Vickery, by contrast, engaged in a more cordial campaign
in the 10th District, in which the incumbent was strongly favored
from the start.

Although Wolf's district was redrawn so that more than two-thirds
of the electorate was new to him, much of his new territory was
considered strongly Republican. The Democrats had trouble finding
someone to challenge him, recruiting Vickery only at the last
minute.

Wolf, 53, took a typical incumbent's above-the-fray approach,
avoiding most debates and not bothering with ads in the expensive
Washington television market. Vickery, 50, a lawyer, chided Wolf
for his antiabortion stance and his broken promise to serve only
12 years, but had trouble raising enough money for more than
sporadic cable TV and radio spots.<02:06 11-04C9999-----

Copyright 1992, The Washington Post.  This story is from the
Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar-
chived or redistributed.

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