By Gregory L. Giroux
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 13

Delegates: 95

Chairman: Susan Swecker

Hotel: Crowne Plaza Los Angeles Airport (310) 642-7500

1996 Election:
Dole – 47%
Clinton – 45%
Perot – 7%

The Republican Party brought its presidential road show to Virginia early, with a Feb. 29 primary, and the state briefly gained the national spotlight: Texas Gov. George W. Bush's hard-won victory over Arizona Sen. John McCain in the state set the stage for his nomination-clinching wins the next week.

The Virginia Democrats' presidential delegate selection process, however, was as placid as the Republicans' was pyrotechnic. A series of little-publicized caucuses in mid-April, well after Vice President Al Gore had sewn up the Democratic nomination, produced a solidly pro-Gore delegation.

The most prominent member of the Virginia delegation is two-term Democratic Sen. Charles S. Robb, who faces a tough re-election fight this November against Republican George F. Allen, a former governor who had strong public approval ratings when he left office in 1998. Robb lagged behind Allen in polls and fundraising for much of the past year, though he has shown signs of recovery lately.

Robb's re-election bid comes at a crucial time for a state party badly in need of a victory. Virginia Democrats lost races for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general in 1997; with four-term Republican John W. Warner holding the state's other U.S. Senate seat, an Allen victory over Robb would lock the Democrats out of all statewide elective offices.

In addition, the Democrats last November lost control of both chambers of the state Legislature for the first time since the Reconstruction era. Last January, conservative U.S. Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. bolted the Democratic Party to become an independent and is caucusing with the House Republicans.

The 95 Virginians who make up the state's Democratic National Convention delegation know they face a tough challenge to carry their conservative-leaning state for Gore. Since 1952, Virginia has gone Democratic for president only once, in President Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964 national landslide win over Republican Barry Goldwater.

Nonetheless, the population boom in the "swing-voting" Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., gives Virginia Democrats some hope. President Clinton lost to Republican Bob Dole in Virginia by 2 percentage points in 1996.

Heading this year's convention delegation is Susan Swecker, a senior vice president for McGuire Woods Consulting in Richmond. A fixture in state Democratic politics, Swecker is a member of the Democratic National Committee, has worked for Robb and has advised state House candidates.

Unlike most other delegations, the Virginia Democratic contingent is not packed with state legislative officials. Just four state House members and one state senator are attending as delegates - in part because the convention is on the West Coast. "Everybody wanted to go to New York [for the 1992 Democratic convention]," joked Craig K. Bieber, executive director for the state Democratic Party.

The state House members attending as delegates are Kenneth R. Plum, who also is state Democratic Party chairman; Alan A. Diamonstein, a 33-year state House veteran who will be attending his eighth national convention; Viola O. Baskerville; and Franklin P. Hall, a legislator since 1976. Yvonne B. Miller is the lone state senator.

Baskerville and Miller are among a group of African Americans who, according to Bieber, comprise at least 25 percent of the Virginia delegation. Other black delegates include Alexandria City Councilman William D. Euille, a longtime community activist, and Kim Anderson, a legislative counsel on Robb's Senate staff.

Democratic officials said that delegate Jay Fisette, the vice chairman of the Arlington County Board, is the first openly gay person ever elected to public office in Virginia. Michael Perez, also a delegate, was instrumental in securing gay and lesbian support for Gore in the Democratic primaries.

Other delegates include Toa Do, a computer firm owner who is an immigrant from Vietnam, and Rosemary Ciotti, who heads a group called People with Disabilities for Gore.

Labor unions are well represented in the delegation. State AFL-CIO President Daniel G. LeBlanc and Vice President Russell N. Axsom are delegates, as are several other members of the state AFL-CIO's executive board. Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, is a delegate, as are Virginia Education Association leaders Cheri James, the outgoing president, and Jean Bankos, the incoming president.

"We've really knocked ourselves out to have a diverse delegation," said Democratic National Committeewoman Mame Reiley, who is a delegate. "We really tried to go above and beyond."

One bearer of a familiar name in the delegation is that of Henry E. Howell III, whose late father and namesake was Virginia's independent lieutenant governor from 1971 to 1974 and the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for governor in 1977.

No one need question the pro-Gore credentials of J. Jack Kennedy Jr., the circuit court clerk for Wise County and the city of Norton, located in far western Virginia. Kennedy attended the 1988 convention in Atlanta as a delegate pledged to Gore, who had made an unsuccessful bid for the presidential nomination that year. Gore's wife, Tipper, later campaigned for Kennedy when he ran for the state House.

VIRGINIA NOTABLES: U.S. Sen. Charles S. Robb; U.S. Reps. Rick Boucher, James P. Moran, Owen B. Pickett (retiring), Robert C. Scott and Norman Sisisky; Democratic political consultant Susan Swecker, the delegation chairman; state Democratic Party Chairman Kenneth R. Plum, a state representative; state AFL-CIO President Daniel G. LeBlanc.