The Nation - News from June 14, 1989

J. Paul Coleman, a former state attorney general, narrowly defeated former U.S. Sen. Paul S. Trible Jr. in Virginia’s first Republican primary for governor in 40 years. Coleman will oppose Democrat L. Douglas Wilder, a social moderate and fiscal conservative, who is trying to become the first elected black governor of a U.S. state. Neither candidate played up the racial aspect of a campaign against Wilder, the 58-year-old Democratic lieutenant governor, a grandson of slaves. Trible, 42, was accused of being a quitter for leaving the Senate last year after one term rather than taking on Democrat Charles S. Robb, a popular former governor who won by a landslide. Coleman, 47, was branded by his opponents as a loser for his 1981 defeat in the gubernatorial race against Robb.