Upset in northern Virginia

There was also an unexpected result in a special election in Virginia. In the Republican primary to select a successor to Northern Virginia's GOP Sen. Warren Barry, who had resigned to take a position with state government, all signs had pointed to an easy victory for former Fairfax County GOP Chairman Mike Thompson. A onetime activist in the conservative Young Americans for Freedom, Thompson cut his political eyeteeth in the presidential campaigns of Barry Goldwater in 1964 and Ronald Reagan in '68. Now a prominent area businessman, he had gilt-edged endorsements from such notables National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R.-Va.), Virginia Republican National Committeeman Morton C. Blackwell and Phyllis Schlafly of the Eagle Forum.

But Thompson was defeated by 34-year-old patent attorney Ken Cuccinelli by 944 to 840 in the GOP balloting (which was held for a few hours in the afternoon at one polling place). How did it happen?

Some Thompson backers charged that Cuccinelli had mobilized ardent right-to-life backers by pointing out that Thompson opposes abortion save in cases of rape, incest, or the life of the mother, while Cuccinelli would allow no exceptions. As one bitter Thompsonite told me, "They slimed Mike. They said he was a `baby-killer' for taking the same position as the last three Republican Presidents!"

But others felt that it was Thompson's stand on a different issue that really cost him the nomination: He agreed with Democratic Gov. Mark Warner that Northern Virginia voters should be permitted to decide in a referendum whether they want a sales tax increase to pay for road construction and repair. The people will defeat any proposed tax increase, insisted Thompson, and such a defeat would start talk of making major spending cuts to permit the necessary road funding.

Cuccinelli hit this hard, arguing that the measure should never be permitted on any ballot or have the slightest chance of seeing the light of day. Even in endorsing Thompson, several backers (such as Blackwell) made it clear that they disagreed with him on the sales tax initiative.

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Jul 15, 2002
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