By R.H. Melton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 8, 1998; Page B01

RICHMOND, March 7—Humiliated by a string of defeats in statewide and legislative elections, Virginia Democrats today turned to veteran Del. Kenneth R. Plum (Fairfax) to lead them as party chairman into the new four-year election cycle.

Plum, 56, a recently retired educator known as a reserved but effective legislator, easily defeated several other party activists in balloting here to capture the chairmanship.

He promptly pledged to concentrate on three central goals: sharpening the Democratic message at a time when Republicans enjoy enormous momentum across Virginia, redoubling the party's efforts to raise money, and rebuilding a demoralized activist base.

Plum also told reporters he would depart from his trademark low-key style with pointed counterattacks against the GOP on policy issues and in campaigns from the courthouse to the statehouse.

"The notion that the Democratic Party is in demise is greatly overstated," Plum said. "We're going to blow the whistle."

Plum assumes the party's top job as Democrats struggle to recover from a Republican sweep of the top three statewide offices last fall and a GOP tide that seems to be washing over the state as they prepare for the 1999 elections for the House of Delegates and state Senate.

Democratic losses in the legislature have created a Senate where Republicans hold a 21 to 19 edge, and a deadlocked House where, after a century of dominance, Democrats had to scramble this session to avoid the embarrassment of seeing Thomas W. Moss Jr. (D-Norfolk) lose his bid for reelection as House Speaker.

This session has been dominated by a Republican proposal to cut the property tax on cars, although Democrats appear to have generated some voter interest by pushing plans to cut the state's sales tax on food and to fund a massive school construction program.

Some Democratic Party regulars were not sure whether a white male from Northern Virginia -- a wealthy region that rural, downstate activists often view with suspicion -- is precisely the right person for chairman.

But in typical fashion, Plum quietly and carefully campaigned for the post, promising a new era in which envelope stuffers and other party faithful "don't feel like they're being dictated to.

"There's no question that people have concerns about continuing with Northern Virginia," home to Plum's predecessor and two of the three Democrats who lost runs for statewide office last year. But, he added, "I'm not from Northern Virginia. I'm from Virginia."

Plum certainly knows the state, from his childhood in rural Shenandoah, hard by Crooked Run Creek; college at Old Dominion University in Norfolk; a teaching degree from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville; and a long career as an adult education specialist outside Washington. He noted with pride that he was the only chairman candidate who captured Democratic Central Committee votes today from all 11 congressional districts.

A General Assembly veteran of nearly 20 years, Plum has focused on high-technology and education issues -- he even discussed Virginia's complex "composite index" for school funding in his campaign speech today. Lately, though, he has raised his profile, managing an esoteric but revolutionary deregulation bill this year for the giant Virginia Power utility.

"He gets things done -- quietly, behind the scenes -- but he gets them done," said William G. Thomas, of Alexandria, a well-known capital lobbyist and key player in the Virginia Power debate.

"He's just the kind of person who ought to be chairing the party now," said Thomas, himself a former state Democratic chairman.

But will Plum's reserve suit a party whose legislative leaders have begun a boisterous challenge to Republican Gov. James S. Gilmore III on issues including the car-tax rollback and the billions of dollars Democrats say is needed to build and renovate schools?

"I will have to do some stepping out," Plum conceded. "But we don't need thunder without the work.

"Rebuilding a party happens by deliberate plan -- nitty-gritty, shoe-leather, door-to-door. . . . People are much more compassionate and caring than we give them credit for. Some pretty mean-spirited people have gotten elected recently. We will get our message out."

Not a moment too soon, several senior Democrats said today.

"The party needs to be on the offensive," said former U.S. Senate candidate Mark R. Warner, of Alexandria, who was using the party's traditional Jefferson-Jackson dinner and gala here this weekend to sound out Democrats for a possible gubernatorial run in 2001.

"We need to set the agenda instead of respond to an agenda," Warner said.

Alson H. Smith Jr., of Winchester, a former delegate and mastermind behind years of party fund-raising, said that "our base can't be what it was once. It's the families who make $50,000 to $100,000. We've got to get to those people.

"We need to be a hair to the right of center," Smith added. "You can't go too far or you lose your base, but if elected officials can't see and feel Virginia has moved to the right, they must be blind."