Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 19, 1994 TAG: 9409220004
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MONETA LENGTH: Long
Doris Morris, owner of McGhee's Grocery Store, says even though she considers herself a Republican, she will vote to re-elect Democratic Rep. L.F. Payne to Congress.
"I like Payne," she said, as she stood behind the deli counter in her small country store off Virginia 24 in Bedford County. "We know him. He's proved to be his own man, and he has the state and his district in mind rather than the [Democratic] Party."
Less than a mile west of McGhee's Grocery is Jim's Country Store, where owner Jim Levkoff says he is supporting the Nelson County Democrat's Republican challenger, 33-year-old Albemarle County attorney George Landrith.
In a conservative district that is expected to vote for Oliver North in the Senate race, Landrith chants one phrase to voters over and over again, spoken so fast it sounds like one word - "billandhillary." And it strikes the right note with Levkoff.
"Mr. Clinton is not my favorite," Levkoff said. "I don't like the direction the country is going in. [Landrith] can't be as bad as a Democrat."
By all indications, the congressional race in Virginia's 5th District could be close - and that's something of a surprise.
After all, Payne, who holds a seat on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, has not had a serious challenge since 1988, the year he was first elected.
In 1990, he ran unopposed; in 1992, he took 69 percent of the vote.
But Oliver North wasn't running in those years. The Republican Party has high hopes for what North, who is challenging Democratic incumbent Sen. Charles Robb, can do for Landrith's campaign.
"The 5th District is probably North's best and Robb's worst, and that hurts," said University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato. Still, he says, "there's really only one thing that can beat Payne - his ties to Clinton and Robb. It's really only their coattails that stand in his way.
"Payne has superficial popularity. He's not much of a show horse; he doesn't really grab headlines a lot. He doesn't have a fine-tuned image. In the [5th] District, he's seen as a moderate Democrat who sometimes follows Clinton and sometimes doesn't.
"If Landrith wins, it will be because of the unpopularity of Clinton and Robb, not because people know a lot about Landrith."
Other political watchers say the same thing.
Ben Sheffner, assistant editor of the Cook Political Report, a Washington, D.C.-based newsletter, said the 5th District race is "not on everybody's radar screens in Washington, but it probably bears watching."
He, too, said Clinton's unpopularity may drag Payne down, and Payne has to convince voters that he is independent of Clinton.
"Some of the counties [in the 5th] will come out pretty strong for Oliver North, and that will bring out a type of voter who won't be inclined to vote for an incumbent Democrat."
Landrith definitely is capitalizing on that in his campaign.
Payne is "a Clinton clone," Landrith charged. "According to Congressional Quarterly, he supports the Clinton agenda 86 percent of the time. There's not a single congressman from Kennedy's Massachusetts that voted for Clinton like Payne did.
"When [Payne] goes to Washington, he votes in a thick Massachusetts accent, and the voters are sick of it."
The Republican challenger has taken an early offensive in the contest. Landrith took a leave of absence about six months ago from his Charlottesville law firm and has been campaigning ever since.
Landrith strikes often at Payne's key role in establishing the Clinton health care plan. Payne provided the swing vote in committee that got the bill onto the House floor, though he later voted against the bill.
Landrith also criticizes Payne for supporting the Clinton economic-stimulus package.
Landrith's campaign statements are powerfully honed sound bites, aimed at Payne and incumbent Democrats everywhere.
He recalled when he told his 9-year-old son that he was running for Congress: "My son sat there, not saying a word. Then he asked me, `Isn't Congress the bad guys?'
"He calls it as he sees it. It's time everyday regular people - who have too much month at the end of the money and who are sick and tired of Congress' warped sense of right and wrong - jumped in the race and took our government back."
Linda Moore, Payne's campaign manager, countered that Landrith is "good with one-liners. He's good with sound bites. I think we expect this to be a challenge, but L.F.'s been a good congressman, and he's served his district well. We're going to run our race as hard as we can, and we're going to win, regardless of what [Landrith] does or how he does it."
Michael Cannaday, a Collinsville lawyer and longtime Democratic activist, agrees Payne will win, but he says it's going to be a lot tougher race than most Democrats would like to admit.
"People in the 5th District are conservative, to be sure, but they are also independent," he said. "I don't think [Payne] is going to lose the election, but I think it's going to be close. The biggest threat he's got is from a strong North campaign."
Payne himself acknowledges Clinton's unpopularity in the 5th but says he represents his district first.
"Consequently, what I intend to do is talk about the specifics ... what I have accomplished on behalf of the people of the 5th District," Payne said.
He says Landrith's citation of his voting record only takes into account the first quarter of this year and does not recognize the times he has voted against Clinton, most notably on the recent crime bill. Payne said he voted against it because it would not address rural crime and he opposed the bill's ban on assault weapons.
The son of a state trooper, Payne says he will talk tough about crime in his campaign, noting that he is in favor of the death penalty and abolishing parole for violent repeat offenders.
As Cannaday sees it, "some of the people wearing Landrith buttons have short memories."
As a member of the House trade subcommittee, Payne pushed for protections for textiles, a major industry in the 5th. In 1991, he obtained funding for several major highway projects in the district, such as $5 million for the proposed Interstate 73 that would run through Franklin and Henry counties.
But his biggest personal accomplishment is also one of the race's biggest issues - tobacco.
Tobacco is among the 5th's top money-producers, and through his seat on the Ways and Means Committee, Payne negotiated a lower tax on cigarettes. The proposed $1.25 tax was reduced to a 45-cent tax, phased in incrementally over five years.
Landrith said that Payne should have held the line at no tax increase, and he's preaching that to tobacco growers.
"That's not playing in the district," Landrith said. "People are mad about it. [Payne] had the chance to veto it by his vote on the committee, and he didn't."
Nevertheless, Payne still seems to have considerable support in tobacco country. He received at least $16,000 from tobacco political-action committees over the past two years, including The Philip Morris Co.
He also is backed by Concerned Friends for Tobacco Growers, a Danville-based political-action committee.
"I'm supporting L.F. completely. He's really been a good representative for the 5th District," said Ray Emerson Jr., chairman of the group and a fourth-generation Pittsylvania County tobacco farmer. "Nobody in the tobacco industry likes a tax, but I understand the position L.F. was in with the animosity toward our product in Washington."
Emerson said the 45-cent tax was better than the $1.25 tax, and he added that Payne's "seat on the Ways and Means Committee is very vital to the 5th District. He's beginning to become influential in Washington. If we start with George Landrith at this time, we'll be back at square zero."
Even though he said he probably would vote for North for Senate, Emerson said he sees a difference between Payne and Clinton.
Likewise, Yvonne Owen, office manager and bookkeeper for Neal's Warehouse, a tobacco auction house in Danville, says she is leaning toward North for Senate and Payne for Congress.
"I know [Payne] can't do it all himself," she said. "He is only one vote, but I think he's sincere in fighting for us, and he's taken a lot of time to talk to" tobacco growers.
Still, she says she didn't vote for Clinton, and she wants to know on which issues Payne agrees with the Clinton administration.
"Some issues would make a difference for me, [such as] gay rights and abortion," she said. Payne has been a strong proponent of abortion rights.
Those issues, the support of Oliver North and some heavy last-minute funding from the Republican National Committee are what Landrith is counting on.
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by CNB