Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 30, 1994 TAG: 9409300041
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
James M. Perry of The Wall Street Journal joined Republican Oliver North's RV travels last week through South Hill and Danville. He reported on Tuesday that the secret to North's success is ``Mr. North himself. He's a celebrity, but he's also a legitimately charismatic figure.''
Perry argues that some of North's charisma is contrived. He points out that the candidate who now wears cowboy boots and ``pronounces tobacco the right way - tahbaccah'' is actually a former Catholic altar boy from upstate New York.
``And for all his talk about being an outsider, he has become as knowledgeable about how polls and focus groups, TV commercials and direct mail work as anyone else running for office in America." Perry reports that North tests his TV spots in Bristol, sends out 2,000 faxes to party leaders every night and knows precisely ``how many of his individual contributions total less that $30," (87 percent).
Perry also took note of the target of North's stump speech, and it's not his opponent, Charles Robb. ``Day after day he accuses President Clinton and the Democratic Congress of reversing America's direction in 19 short months, wrecking the economy, gutting the nation's defenses and imperiling at least six amendments to the Constitution, an amazing record for a president who is often criticized for failing to meet most of his major goals.''
Pat Truly, a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, also has taken note of North and the Senate race, in a Tuesday column:
"Samuel Johnson was wrong. For some scoundrels, patriotism is the 'first' refuge, not the last. I offer Ollie North as evidence for the prosecution.
"Can't you see Sen. North, in a few years, running for president with the campaign slogan, 'Come lie with me'?
"Speaking of North, that Virginia race is something, even by our Texas standards (and we have elected our share of loonies, liars and lechers over the years). The difference is that we haven't had candidates who seemed proud of having violated an oath, a Constitution and several laws.
"I feel for Virginia voters, who have a choice between one major candidate (North) who is accused of having done to the American system of constitutional government what his chief opponent (Sen. Charles Robb) is accused of having done to a beauty queen. It poses the all-too-common question in U.S. politics about which is worse: public immorality or private immorality."
Opinions also differ on whether North is a divisive force in the Republican Party. On Saturday, the New York Times ran an editorial claiming that he is:
``Oliver North has two talents rarely, if ever, combined in the same political candidate. He can squirt water through the gap in his front teeth and strike a target 10 feet away. He also has a rare gift for splitting a political party that normally tolerates almost anyone identified as a Republican.''
The editorial went on to detail the prominent Republicans who ``cannot abide North ... largely because he misled Congress about the Iran-Contra affair.'' The list includes Ronald Reagan, Robert McFarlane and Sens. John Warner, John Danforth and John Chafee.
The Times noted that Bob Dole, who once called North a loose cannon, ``set aside his contempt and campaigned for North. Never a good actor, he did so tepidly.'' Whereas, former President Bush offered to endorse North with no reservations.
This split led the Times to conclude that the Republican big tent ``is far too small to accommodate both those who wish to consort with North and those who wish he had never appeared on the scene.''
North has tended to get the lion's share of the attention from the media. When Robb hasn't bored those covering the race, he has baffled them. For example, on Saturday, The Dallas Morning News said, ``Robb is one of several Democrats unabashedly running with Mr. Clinton.''
But two days earlier, the Baltimore Sun had concluded that ``Mr. Robb has started distancing himself from President Clinton, who is increasingly unpopular in the state. And he has portrayed himself as an independent and conservative Democrat.''
Compiled by Keith Monroe with help from researcher Peggy Earle of Landmark News Service.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB