GOP 'Coronation' of Kilgore Intensifies Opponent's Desire

NEWPORT NEWS -- It's 6 o'clock in the morning and already 70 degrees on the way to 90. George B. Fitch, mayor of a tiny town in Northern Virginia, is shaking hands with shipyard employees and passing out slick brochures that say "George Fitch, Republican for Governor."

"I'd appreciate your vote on June 14," he says repeatedly as civilian and military employees of Northrop Grumman stream into the shipyard at the 50th Street gate.

Cody Lawrence, 23, a nuclear refueler, is one of the few who stop to shake Fitch's hand. "I've never actually met someone who is running for office," Lawrence said.

"You never usually see them getting up this early," Fitch mumbles.

On Tuesday, voters will choose the Republican nominee for governor. Fitch, 57, insists he can beat former attorney general Jerry W. Kilgore.

"We're gathering momentum. We feel it. We're getting a response," he says as he sips a second cup of coffee after 90 minutes of campaigning. "I'm running to win."

It's an audacious goal, and he knows it. One moment, he's in charge of the Fauquier County town of Warrenton, with its 100 employees and a population of about 7,000. The next, if Fitch gets his way, he'll be managing the entire state of Virginia -- directing tens of thousands of workers and overseeing its two-year, $63 billion budget.

But it's not only the size of the political promotion that looms before him. The entire apparatus of the Republican Party of Virginia, and, indeed, the national Republican Party, is determined to make sure Fitch has nothing more to do Wednesday than go back to Warrenton.

Although Fitch's presence officially creates a contested primary, Kilgore has essentially been anointed by the Republican Party and its politicians. In fact, Kilgore and most of the GOP leadership have done everything they can to ignore Fitch and declare Kilgore the candidate to challenge Lt. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) in the general election.

"Since the beginning of this campaign, we have been focused on one thing, and that is the finish line of November 8," said Tim Murtaugh, Kilgore's press secretary. "Jerry Kilgore will be the Republican nominee and Tim Kaine will be the opponent."

That kind of comment tears at Fitch. More than just about anything, he said, it's the reason he's running in the first place.

"So because I'm a loyal Republican, I have to abide by some strange, misguided terms of the party that in this instance we don't want any competition?" he asked. "We want a coronation?"