Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 29, 1994 TAG: 9407290079
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By STEVE GOLDSTEIN KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long
Increasingly nervous about losing control of the Senate in November, the Clinton administration is taking some bold steps to settle the landscape - installing savvy infighter Leon Panetta as White House chief of staff and blasting the religious right for trying to co-opt the Republican Party.
But the most audacious move came two weeks ago, when Vice President Al Gore privately asked Democratic former Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder to drop an independent challenge to Democratic Sen. Charles Robb.
The White House is worried that Wilder's independent candidacy will hand the election to GOP nominee Oliver North, the controversial Iran-Contra figure and champion of the religious right.
To Gore's dismay, the meeting boomeranged.
In what some insiders termed a cold double-cross, Wilder tipped reporters to the White House meeting and held a news conference later to say he was staying in the race.
Gore, who in a previous telephone conversation with Wilder was led to believe that the ex-governor would quit if he were courted by the White House, was irate at the outcome.
``There's not a hell of a lot you can do about that - the first time'' it happens, the vice president said in an interview late Wednesday.
``He [Wilder] wanted to create an opportunity to dispel the widespread belief that he will get out of the race,'' Gore said. ``I think he may still ... [but] the last thing he would do is say that.''
Wilder, in a telephone interview, accused Gore of ``wishful thinking.''
``There's not a g------thing I ever said in either conversation that would suggest I wanted to drop out,'' a bitter Wilder said Thursday.
During the interview in his White House office, Gore also defended leading Democrats for criticizing the religious right as an intolerant and exclusionary force.
``Anyone who tries to pretend that he or she has a direct and exclusive pipeline to God, through which God expresses political opinions on pending legislation, is committing a sin,'' said Gore, who is deeply religious.
``To paraphrase Lloyd Bentsen,'' Gore said, ``I know Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the most important part of my life. And Jesus Christ is no Republican ... or Democrat.''
Of the senatorial race in Virginia, home to religious leader Pat Robertson and the Christian Coalition, Gore said: ``My impression is that there is a small, politically active group that has a good deal of influence in the Republican Party, and they have managed to play an important role in securing the nomination for North.''
Coming against a backdrop of congressional hearings on the Whitewater affair and uncertainty over the viability of health care reform, Gore's comments reflected deep concern over the mid-term elections, which historically favor the party not occupying the White House.
The Republicans need seven seats to take control of the Senate, and among the vulnerable spots are Arizona and Maine, where Sens. Dennis DeConcini and George Mitchell are retiring, and Pennsylvania, where Sen. Harris Wofford is facing a determined bid by conservative Republican Rep. Rick Santorum.
But the Big One is across the Potomac in Virginia.
``That's the marquee race,'' said David Wilhelm, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. ``It's a very, very critical race.
``People are looking to see how strong the radical right is and whether they can carry into office a candidate as flawed as North,'' Wilhelm continued.
Wilder, the 63-year-old grandson of slaves, became the first elected black governor in 1989. Barred from running for a second term, Wilder at first said he would not oppose Robb - with whom he has a longstanding personal feud - then changed his mind.
Some moderate Republicans who oppose North's candidacy are supporting an independent bid by Republican former state Attorney General Marshall Coleman.
Gore, who spoke June 13 by telephone with Wilder, said he came away with the impression that the former governor was entering the Senate race on a temporary basis. The vice president later extended an invitation to Wilder to come to the White House and talk it over.
``My motivation was to tell Governor Wilder that I thought it was very much in the interests of the values he stood for to not stay on the ballot,'' Gore said.
The vice president said he chose to meet with Wilder because of a longstanding personal relationship.
``It could only be wishful thinking,'' Wilder said of Gore's assumptions about the meeting. ``If he got the impression, he didn't get it from words of mine.''
The ex-governor admitted, however, that he was looking for an expression of ``respect.'' Wilder felt snubbed when the White House did not invite him to be part of the official party attending the inauguration of President Nelson Mandela in South Africa.
``They never wanted me in the race to begin with,'' said Wilder. ``The White House wants Robb because he'll do whatever they tell him.''
Wilder held a news conference July 14 after the 30-minute session with Gore to say he was staying in the race and wasn't seeking an administration job as ``quid pro quo'' for getting out.
Gore called Robb before his meeting with Wilder to ask if Robb knew what Wilder was going to do. Robb said, ``Expect the unexpected.'' Of the meeting itself, he said: ``The vice president has a little better understanding as to how one participant [Wilder] does business.''
Wilhelm defended Gore's meeting with Wilder as ``appropriate,'' while conceding that there was a risk of such private strong-arming becoming public.
But presidential scholar Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution said Gore was ``too close to the center of power'' to do such political dirty work and said the task would have been better left to the DNC chairman ``if he were a heavyweight.''
Christian Coalition Director Ralph Reed Jr. said he was ``stunned'' that the White House ``risked the prestige of the vice presidency on a feud on the scale of the Hatfields and the McCoys.''
``The Democrats are scrambling,'' said Reed. ``This is one rabbit they couldn't pull out of the hat.''
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB