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

DATE: TUESDAY, April 12, 1994                   TAG: 9404120148
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By Dwayne Yancey staff writer Note: above
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long

ROBB CAMPAIGN OUT FOR YAWNS?

For Virginia politicians, speaking to the students of college professors-turned-pundits has become the Old Dominion's equivalent of going on ``Larry King Live.''

Just by showing up, you're bound to get attention. And if you want to make a point, and have it heard, this is where you make it.

A few weeks ago, Sen. John Warner dazzled Larry Sabato's class at the University of Virginia by declaring that if his fellow Republicans nominate Oliver North for the Senate, he may back an independent.

So when Sen. Charles Robb was scheduled to appear before Bob Holsworth's students at Virginia Commonwealth University last week, there was scarcely a scribe in the state who didn't take notice.

This was Robb's first big media-hyped public appearance since his mid-March tour to announce his bid for re-election, a campaign swing that was overshadowed by the release of his letter confessing he'd done things ``not appropriate for a married man.''

Since then, the Senate race has taken more twists and turns than U.S. 221 up Bent Mountain.

A potentially credible challenger - state Sen. Virgil Goode of Rocky Mount - had come forward to cause trouble in Democratic ranks. Robb's old nemesis, former Gov. Douglas Wilder, started making noises about getting back in the race. And Warner dropped his look-for-an-independent bombshell.

Then, out of the blue, the two Republicans started accusing each other of being, well, nuts - with Jim Miller trying to draw attention to North's psychiatric hospitalization in the 1970s but winding up talking about his own mental health treatment.

So just how did Robb take advantage of the unique opportunity afforded him to score political points in Virginia's circus of a Senate race?

He toted in charts and graphs, Ross Perot-style, and lectured on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

(Yawn.)

The next day, Robb headed west to Roanoke to talk about the hottest issue in the land - health care.

Did he lambaste the Republicans for saying health care isn't a ``crisis''? Did he burnish his moderate credentials by roughing up his own president for trying to expand the federal bureaucracy?

No, he spent nearly an hour talking to Roanoke Valley life insurance agents about the pluses and minuses of mandatory versus voluntary health alliances. Even then, he didn't take a position, saying he intentionally wasn't going to sign on with any of the competing health-care plans so he could be an ``honest broker'' in shaping the inevitable compromise.

Until then, Robb said, he was trying to be ``a sponge,'' soaking up all the information he could before he has to vote.

The insurance agents seemed relatively satisfied. ``I appreciated his approach,'' said agent Alan Bayse. They wished he'd come out against the mandatory alliances - which they say will effectively put them out of business someday - but they thought that Robb at least had listened to their concerns.

Smart policy, perhaps, but smart politics?

Robb's health-care address didn't generate any headlines in the Roanoke Valley - or elsewhere.

And that may be just the point, say some of the state's most prominent political analysts.

Robb's re-election strategy, they say, may be to bore the voters.

``It's part of his nature,'' points out Mark Rozell of Mary Washington College. ``Chuck Robb has never claimed to be a charismatic politician. It took him a long time to learn how to use hand gestures when he speaks.''

But this election year, Rozell says, ``perhaps being boring is a nice contrast to what Virginians are seeing.''

For now, Robb appears to be going out of his way to be boring.

He's concentrating on business-like ``senatorial'' appearances, like the ones in Roanoke on Thursday, where he dwells on policy details. Usually, he doesn't even mention he's up for re-election.

Robb and his campaign staff, in fact, contend that the campaign hasn't begun yet - the hoopla swirling around them notwithstanding. ``You're trying to get us into a race we ain't in yet,'' grumbles Robb spokesman Bert Rohrer, when asked to comment on the Miller-North fireworks.

He even says the campaign for the Democratic nomination can't really start until the party knows who'll be on the June 14 primary ballot; Goode and Richmond lawyer Sylvia Clute still are circulating their petitions.

This low-key approach may be a smart move on Robb's part, Rozell says.

``The more Robb looks above the fray, and sticks to the details of government, he looks better than the two Republicans,'' Rozell says.

But only up to a point, cautions Holsworth, who had the advantage of seeing Robb in action before his VCU students.

Robb's mastery of policy details on a broad range of subjects - from trade to North Korean nuclear weapons to Bosnian ethnic cleansing to the federal deficit - was ``impressive,'' Holsworth concedes.

``But simply showing he's very knowledgeable about public affairs is not enough,'' he warns. ``He can't dance around the concerns people have about his character simply by demonstrating he's well-versed in policy matters.''

Robb's spokesman insists otherwise. Voters want to hear about issues, not an ``appeal to people's emotions,'' Rohrer contends.

Just look at the VCU students, he says. All but one of them asked Robb about policy questions. But it was the one student who didn't - who instead declared she couldn't trust Robb to be truthful - who got the headlines the next day.

Holsworth, though, suspects voters may care more about Robb's character than they let on.

``He should have a stock answer to that as he does to everything else, but he should be positive and hopeful about it, not say, `Lynda asked me not to talk about it.' ... [Voters] want to hear him telling them why they should trust his political judgment and why a mistake he made should not disqualify him from being their senator ... ''

By focusing on the technicalities of government, Robb also runs another risk, Holsworth says. Sure, his stolid approach could reassure voters that he's really OK, after all. But he also could bore his own supporters so much they'll stay home.

``He's probably figuring North will excite Robb's supporters as well as North's supporters,'' Holsworth says. ``But I do think there's a danger of running a bloodless campaign.''

For one thing, Robb's staff is correct in pointing out the Democratic primary comes first. And Goode's strongest weapon may be his reputation for being a passionate stump speaker.

No wonder much of Goode's petition drive is being staged around speaking events - such as a rally Sunday afternoon in Patrick County.

``We're just going to get Virgil out there and let him campaign,'' says campaign manager Craig Beiber. ``That'll be our best asset. If Robb's campaign style is very senatorial, we would see that as an advantage for Virgil.''

Keywords:
POLITICS