Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 1, 1993 TAG: 9311010070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BONNIE V. WINSTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Darting from Northern Virginia to Roanoke and back in a propjet once owned by race car champions Mario Andretti and Cale Yarborough, Allen said he is besting Democratic nominee Mary Sue Terry in the polls not because of any lucky breaks, but because of sheer hard work.
"The harder you work, the luckier you get," said Allen, who was 19 percentage points ahead of Terry in a poll published in Sunday's Richmond Times-Dispatch.
"I think I've worked harder than she has, I've come up with more detailed proposals . . . and I think the people of Virginia agree with my ideas, focus and philosophy more than hers," Allen said.
Allen saw what looked like momentum in Sunday's crowds. In rallies at the Salem Civic Center and Timberland Park in Oakton, Allen packed them in. Several hundred people, upbeat and enthused after waiting under umbrellas in the soggy cold, loudly greeted Allen at the outdoor rally in Northern Virginia.
Charles Weir, a Fairfax County GOP leader, said Allen has gained support in usually Democratic Northern Virginia like no Republican candidate since John Dalton. Elected in 1977, the late Dalton was Virginia's last GOP governor.
"He has come up here early and often; she hasn't," Weir said of Terry. "And when people have met him one-on-one, they can't help but like him and feel enthusiastic about him. He's got stump charisma - not many people have it - and she doesn't.
"I was so confident [that Allen would win] that I've had my reservations for a hotel room down there in Richmond on election night for about a month," Weir said.
"I got excited about the entire ticket," said Cathy Wallin, 35, of Roanoke, who got involved in politics only last year with the election of 6th District Rep. Robert Goodlatte of-Roanoke.
"It's the Reagan coalition back together again," she said, amid the throng of several hundred people who waved blue and white Allen signs and balloons inside the Salem Civic Center.
"I believe in less government, and that's what [Allen] stands for," she said. "The government is spending 30 percent of my money. I think I can do better."
Talking with reporters, Allen said he's way ahead of anything he thought he could do just six months ago.
"All the stories coming out of the [June GOP] convention saying I'd never win made it very hard to raise money," Allen said. "But I was always convinced that if I could get the message out, I'd win."
He said the naysaying and the lack of money made his supporters "more eager, more resourceful than we would have been normally."
"Living off the land, so to speak, made us hungrier [to win], gave us a leaner operation," he said. And his summer "listening tour took us close to the people" in a way that an expensive television advertising campaign might not have, Allen said.
Traveling Sunday with the same stump speech he used on Saturday's fly-around, Allen said the "Robb-Wilder-Terry Democrats" he's been campaigning to replace are "motivated not by a passion for ideas, but for preserving power."
He urged supporters to reject "the stagnant, stolid status quo" in favor of "positive, constructive, common-sense ideas" and change.
Allen was accompanied Sunday by his wife, Susan, and Joe Lewis, head of African-Americans for Allen, and James Laws, a former Terry employee in the attorney general's office. Laws was fired by Terry on conflict-of-interest grounds after he accepted an appointment to the Richmond School Board; he has been a leading organizer for Allen in Richmond's black community.
Lewis and Laws escorted Allen early Sunday to church services at two predominantly black Baptist congregations in Richmond.
Allen was cordially received at both churches, and he was buoyed by the Rev. Lance D. Watson's message at the 8 a.m. service at St. Paul's Baptist - "Time for a Change."
At Fifth Baptist Church, Allen was allowed to say a few words, but only after some gentle ribbing from the Rev. Earl M. Brown. The minister chided Allen, son of the late coach of the Washington Redskins, about his loyalty to the Redskins.
Brown, as his congregation knew, is a Dallas Cowboys fan.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB