Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 4, 1994 TAG: 9409060006
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA LENGTH: Medium
Dorothy Moran has brain cancer, which had spread to her spine before doctors discovered the disease last month. The prognosis is not encouraging.
Moran and his wife and chief fund-raiser, Mary, slept in chairs at the child's hospital bedside for two weeks after an emergency operation to remove a fist-sized tumor from Dorothy's brain stem Aug. 13.
Doctors discovered a second, inoperable tumor and evidence the fast-moving cancer had spread. Dorothy will undergo monthly chemotherapy.
``It's a very, very serious situation,'' said Mame Reiley, Moran's campaign chairman and Dorothy's godmother. ``It's hard to be optimistic, but we are all trying.''
The child was sick for a month and had seen several doctors before her exasperated parents insisted on a battery of tests. Dorothy is the youngest of the Morans' five children.
``It's been a life-changing experience,'' Moran said. ``It causes you to reorder your priorities and define them.''
The Alexandria Democrat is seeking a third term representing the 8th District in a rematch of the testy 1992 campaign against Republican Kyle McSlarrow.
Both campaigns have paused since Dorothy's diagnosis, and the next moves for both candidates are uncertain.
Moran hasn't made a public appearance for close to three weeks and canceled plans to campaign door-to-door during the congressional recess.
``I enjoy doing that, but I just can't afford the time. I think I have a responsibility to spend that time with my daughter,'' Moran said in a telephone interview from his home.
Dorothy came home from Children's Hospital in Washington on Monday for a brief stay, Moran said.
McSlarrow canceled two press conferences and postponed sending out a campaign letter that blasted Moran's liberal voting record. He knows confrontational campaigning could appear callous.
``We are trying to be sensitive to that situation, because that's truly awful,'' McSlarrow said. ``At the same time, there's no escaping the fact there's an election two months from now.''
McSlarrow said he'll resume regular campaigning this week, but will steer clear of personal attacks.
McSlarrow, 34, has a son nearly Dorothy's age. ``It really brings it home,'' he said.
The first of about a dozen scheduled debates is set for Wednesday in Arlington. Moran will attend if possible, Reiley said.
``If Dorothy has a bad day, his first priority is and should be with her. We will have surrogates prepared, and they will stand in for him if necessary,'' she said.
Several prominent Democratic politicians and activists have volunteered to debate in Moran's place or make other appearances.
In their last contest, Moran and McSlarrow debated more than 30 times. The forums sometimes slid into shouting matches.
Moran, 49, is a garrulous politician with a tart tongue. During one well-publicized incident in the 1992 campaign, a flustered, red-faced Moran accused McSlarrow of drug use, while McSlarrow called Moran's ethics ``slimy.''
The child's cancer will likely change the tenor of the campaign, both men said.
``I certainly don't feel in a combative mood,'' Moran said slowly. ``Partisanship and the petty politics you sometimes fall into, I just don't have the time or interest to get involved in that kind of campaigning at all.''
Moran captured 53 percent of the vote in 1992, McSlarrow had 42 percent, and an independent candidate had about 5 percent.
Moran has about $450,000 in the bank, Reiley said. McSlarrow has raised about $350,000, he said.
Charles Cook, a political handicapper and editor of the Cook Political Report, said Moran is considered a strong front-runner, and the cancer diagnosis makes it difficult for McSlarrow to lob much damaging mud.
``It was going to be a very uphill race for McSlarrow,'' Cook said, ``and this doesn't make it any easier.''
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB