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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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102389
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10238900.052
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1990-09-22
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NATION, Page 36A Pair of Electoral Tests
Whether abortion is an issue that will decide the outcome of
elections is being tested in Governor's campaigns in Virginia and
New Jersey. Race was expected to be a dominant preoccupation in
Virginia, where Democratic Lieut. Governor Douglas Wilder is
seeking to become the nation's first elected black Governor. But
while it may never be far from voters' minds, the race issue has
failed to materialize, allowing Wilder to keep the focus on the
antiabortion views of his Republican opponent, Marshall Coleman.
Coleman and Wilder are running nearly even, but Wilder has
wider support among women voters. Polls indicate that abortion is
the decisive factor in the disparity. "I trust the women of
Virginia," Wilder taunted his opponent in a televised debate last
week. "That's the difference between you and I." Coleman is trying
the hang-tough route, sticking to his staunch opposition to
abortion in all cases except where the life of the woman is in
danger. But he has promised that if he wins the election he will
not propose legislation to outlaw the termination of pregnancies
that result from rape or incest.
In New Jersey, Democrat Jim Florio has built a substantial lead
over Republican Congressman Jim Courter in part by reminding voters
of Courter's solid antiabortion voting record in Congress. Courter
has been forced into a defensive retreat, promising that if elected
he will keep his hands off the state's liberal abortion laws.
"After Courter won the primary, he appeared to modify his
position," admits John Tomicki, executive director of the New
Jersey Right to Life Committee. "We believe he was uncomfortable
with the issue." Kathryn Kolbert, an attorney for the A.C.L.U.'s
Reproductive Freedom Project, puts it more bluntly. "He's just done
a total backpedal," she says. "He's read the polls."
Pro-choice groups have pumped time and money into campaigns
against Coleman and Courter. Last week NARAL previewed a pair of
anti-Coleman commercials it has produced for the Virginia race. In
New Jersey the group expects to spend $100,000 on Florio's behalf.
The organization also plans to contact 50,000 specially selected
G.O.P. and independent voters who might be persuaded to support him
solely on the basis of his pro-choice stance. "Abortion is now a
dominant issue in American politics," says Kate Michelman, NARAL's
executive director. Pro-choice activists are doing everything they
can to keep it that way.