Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 28, 1993 TAG: 9310280032
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
There have been fliers claiming that Del. Richard Cranwell is a friend of child pornographers.
Glossy brochures suggesting that challenger Bud Brumitt is unpatriotic.
A pamphlet featuring a photograph of a Social Security recipient shaking her bony fist at the camera and saying, "I thought I could trust you, Dickie Cranwell."
The mail should continue to make for interesting reading in the coming days, as Cranwell and Brumitt make last-minute appeals to registered voters in Bedford, Botetourt, Craig and Roanoke counties.
At the outset, the Cranwell-Brumitt contest had the makings of a no-contest.
Cranwell, a Roanoke County Democrat, is the House majority leader and one of the most influential legislators in the General Assembly. He is considered so entrenched that no one had challenged him since 1971.
Brumitt, a retired equipment salesman, is a political newcomer who moved to Botetourt County less than two years ago.
Brumitt's chances of pulling off an upset appear remote, but Republicans say the outcome will be closer than expected because of Brumitt's aggressive campaign style.
Brumitt looks like an amiable Rotarian, but he has gone after Cranwell like a junkyard dog. He accused Cranwell of using his legislative position to advance his law practice and blasted Cranwell for using the Fifth Amendment when called to testify in 1990 before a federal grand jury investigating his former law partner, Frank Selbe.
"I need your vote to replace arrogance with ethics," Brumitt said in a radio commercial that began airing this week.
Cranwell has defended his ethics record, noting that he wrote the state's conflict-of-interest law. Cranwell has said he avoided testifying before the grand jury because he feared the Justice Department, then controlled by Republicans, would try to build a politically motivated case against him.
Cranwell, 53, also has spent much of his energy refuting charges that he opposed measures to control child pornography and slapped a state income tax on Social Security benefits.
When not on the defensive, Cranwell has sought to make the election a referendum on his record for ensuring that Southwest Virginia gets its fair share in the General Assembly.
Cranwell has portrayed Brumitt as an newcomer unfamiliar with Virginia's problems and so disinterested in public service that he did not register to vote while living in Pennsylvania from 1988 to 1992.
"Dick Cranwell has served as chairman of the House Finance Committee for the last six years, where he has been able to secure hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Roanoke Valley and Southwest Virginia," a Cranwell flier reads.
Campaign contributions could become a deciding factor in the race. Cranwell has raised more than $150,000 - five times more than Brumitt - from scores of lobbyists and political action committees.
The advantage in money has allowed Cranwell to saturate the airwaves with radio commercials, keep mailboxes in the district stuffed with glossy campaign literature and refine his strategy with tracking polls.
Cranwell is so flush that he has extra money to donate to local nonprofit groups, such as the Miss Botetourt Scholarship Fund, which received $100.
Brumitt, however, is so strapped for cash that his campaign manager, Amy Averill, has been working without pay for several weeks.
The Virginia Republican Party has kicked in an estimated $20,000 worth of direct mail and radio spots, but Brumitt has little control over the content.
Democratic sources with ties to the Cranwell campaign said that recent tracking polls show Cranwell leading Brumitt 61 percent to 20 percent, with 19 percent undecided.
Republicans say the numbers for Brumitt could improve dramatically if GOP gubernatorial candidate George Allen wins big in the 14th House District, particularly in the suburbs of southern Botetourt County.
One unknown issue in the Cranwell-Brumitt race is whether voters will see the election as a chance to cut a powerful politician down to size.
Brumitt encountered that sentiment from at least one person while he campaigned door-to-door in Spring Grove, a Vinton subdivision in the heart of Cranwell Country.
"It's past time for a change," said Robert Ingram, a retired truck driver trimming bushes in front of his home.
"Cranwell's been in there too long. They get in there too long, and they get too much power."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB