Warner to Back Independent’s Bid if North Is GOP Nominee

Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.) says he will actively support an independent Senate bid by fellow Republican J. Marshall Coleman if Oliver L. North wins the GOP nomination Saturday, and he may even renounce the party by seeking reelection in 1996 as an independent.

Virginia’s senior senator said he has been encouraging Coleman, a former state attorney general, to mount an independent campaign because he believes North is unfit to hold public office.

And although Warner has made no final decision, he said he will not allow conservatives who support North to prevent him from running again in two years.

“I will find a way of getting my name in front of the voters of Virginia,” he said. “I hope to do it through the party structure. But a small, tiny group is not going to stop me.”

Warner, the highest-ranking elected Republican in Virginia, will not attend the party convention in Richmond this weekend. He will be on the beaches of Normandy for ceremonies commemorating the 50th anniversary of D-day. He said one GOP activist recently joked to him: “You’re going where the shooting has stopped.”

Warner’s blunt remarks are the clearest sign yet that the ideological schism caused by North’s candidacy likely will widen in coming months. The prospect of a Warner defection in two years could shatter the party unity fostered by Republican Gov. George F. Allen’s unexpected victory last fall and throw Republicans into an internecine war.

There also is evidence that Warner commands a much stronger political position than the hail of criticism directed at him in recent weeks would suggest.

Although GOP conservatives are furious with him for disparaging North, senior Republicans and Democrats say Warner’s popularity with the general public has soared because of his stand. Political strategists say numerous private polls show that most voters consider his statements gutsy. Warner’s current approval ratings are the highest of any elected official in Virginia.

Political analysts said that even though Coleman has lost two statewide races since he was elected attorney general in 1977, an energetic effort by Warner could help make him a serious contender.