"Former Virginia governor L. Douglas Wilder endorsed fellow Democrat Mark R. Warner this morning, promising to travel the state on his behalf in the final weeks leading to the election for governor.

'I support without hesitation Mark Warner,' Wilder said in a news conference at the state Capitol. 'I think Mark Warner has demonstrated ... his experience in health matters, transportation and fiscal matters.'

Wilder was most recently seen in the campaign as a moderator in last week's debate, in which he pressed Warner to clarify his position on tax increases. Today, Wilder said he was convinced that Warner would not raise taxes in the current economic climate and said he wouldn't be supporting Warner if he thought otherwise.

Warner's opponent, Republican Mark L. Earley, has repeatedly accused Warner of aiming to raise taxes. The proof, Earley argued again in a debate Wednesday night, is that Warner included $900 million in revenue from a proposed Northern Virginia sales tax increase in his $2.2 billion transportation plan.

Warner says he believes Northern Virginia should be allowed to hold a referendum on a tax increase to pay for transportation improvements, but says he has no position on whether the measure - an increase in the sales tax from 4.5 percent to 5 percent - should be adopted.

Wilder noted that he was faced with a weak economy in the early 1990s but did not raise taxes, a position Earley praised the former governor for during the debate.

'I certainly wouldn't be endorsing anybody who I thought would be loose with our money,' Wilder said.

Warner, who managed Wilder's campaign for governor in 1989, has spent much of the past few weeks rebutting the assertion that he is a fiscal liberal and echoed that theme in thanking Wilder today. 'The ability to manage a budget without raising taxes is a model I'll emulate,' Warner said.

Earley said he was 'not real surprised' by the endorsement. 'Governor Wilder and Mark Warner have had a relationship over the years, both personal and political, and I certainly understand their friendship.'" (Reuters, The Washington Post, October 16, 2001).