
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 4, 1993                   TAG: 9308040253
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NORTH SPENDING HEAVILY SENATE RACE LIKELY TO BREAK RECORDS

Oliver North, the Iran-Contra figure and likely Republican Senate candidate in Virginia, spent nearly $500,000 on political activities in the first half of this year, building a sophisticated campaign-style organization more than a year before the U.S. Senate election.

Documents filed with the Federal Election Commission show that V-PAC, a political action committee controlled by North, spent about $499,700 from January through June. V-PAC conducted extensive direct-mail fund raising, paid for North's travel and retained well-known GOP political consultants as advisers.

North's spending dwarfed that of another likely Senate candidate, incumbent Sen. Charles Robb. Robb, a Democrat, did begin filling an empty campaign war chest, raising more than $600,000 in the six-month period. Aides say his campaign has about $500,000; North's PAC was about $129,000 in debt as of June 30.

Gov. Douglas Wilder, a Democrat, and two Republican candidates - former federal prosecutor Jay Stephens and former federal budget director James Miller - have not disclosed any fund-raising activities.

Political analysts say that North's spending and Robb's fund raising demonstrate how hard-fought Virginia's U.S. Senate race is likely to be. According to North's records and Robb's aides, most fund raising has been done outside Virginia. Analysts say that because the field of candidates is so well-known, the race almost certainly will be watched around the country.

"These are nationally known figures, and they bring a national constituency," said Mark J. Rozell, a political scientist at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg. "I think we're going to break all kinds of state fund-raising records in this race."

North "is spending an extraordinary amount of money 18 months before an election," Rozell added. "And Senator Robb has to be very encouraged that he could raise this much money after all the negative publicity he has suffered. It's going to be quite a race."

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB