Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 27, 1994 TAG: 9404270086
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Long
"I don't think this has anything to do with politics," she said. "I think it has to do with morals."
She's almost ashamed to admit she once had her picture taken with incumbent U.S. Sen. Charles Robb. "A good moral person is what I want to see in Virginia now," she said.
So she got up at 4 a.m. and drove from Martinsville to meet one she believes qualifies. She wasn't alone.
Officially, the big to-do that went on in little Rocky Mount Tuesday morning was a political rally, where the state legislator introduced as "Franklin County's favorite son" formally kicked off his campaign for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate.
But behind all the flags, the prayers, the bunting and the jazz combo from nearby Ferrum College, the mood at state Sen. Virgil Goode's announcement took on the air of a tent revival, a crusade - and not just a political one, either.
In case there was any lingering doubt, Goode made one thing clear. His uphill challenge will be built on a single theme: Robb is too tainted by scandal to stay in office.
Goode didn't say so directly, of course. Being a politician, he chose his words carefully, declaring that voters in the June 14 Democratic primary must look at a candidate's "values" and "judgment."
In fact, he never mentioned Robb's name, never made direct reference to charges that Robb frequented sex-and-drugs parties at Virginia Beach in the early 1980s, never brought up that the former governor and first-term senator has admitted he did things "not appropriate for a married man."
Instead, Goode told the crowd of 200-plus that turned out to see him set off on his campaign, "the overriding issue, the chief concern, the main factor in the 1994 U.S. Senate race is who will lead by example ... "
Rocky Mount lawyer and county Democratic chairman Eric Ferguson, who introduced Goode, was more direct, taking swipes at both Robb and Republican front-runner Oliver North.
The two leading candidates, Ferguson said, are busy "cleaning away the mud on their faces." Goode, he said, "brings a face fresh to the national arena, a face which hasn't lied to the United States Congress, a face which hasn't been questioned by the public due to alleged character flaws. Ladies and gentlemen, the United States Senate needs a spring cleaning and we want to provide the broom."
Many of the hometown supporters who turned out to cheer Goode on, though, minced even fewer words when the subject turned to Robb and his personal conduct.
"People are reflecting back on that four- or five-page letter he wrote," Joyce said. And they're not pleased.
"You don't hear much about Robb," said Lewis Buchanan, a retired Appalachian Power Co. engineer. "They don't like the things he's done in his private life. Good citizens won't buy that. They won't vote for a man who can't control himself."
And so it begins - a seven-week campaign in which Goode and another challenger, Richmond lawyer Sylvia Clute, attempt to oust their party's incumbent senator, the first time that has happened in Virginia since 1966.
A Robb spokesman had little to say Tuesday about Goode's line of attack, hinting instead that Robb may respond by trying to paint Goode as too conservative for many Democrats.
But Ferguson is predicting Robb's personal difficulties will sway many voters to Goode's side. "I think it's going to be a big factor," he said. "Especially here in [Southside Virginia], I think it's going to be a huge factor."
The bulk of the 38,000 signatures that placed Goode's name on the ballot came out of his rural base here in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. But the critical question regarding Goode's candidacy is how well he goes over in the state's suburbs, especially Northern Virginia. Or, as Joyce puts it, "we've got to worry about the upper-crust people in Fairfax and up there."
A new poll this week by the Richmond Times-Dispatch put Robb at a shaky 37 percent among likely Democratic voters, but placed Goode at 11 percent and Clute at 6 percent - suggesting that while voters may be reluctant to back Robb, they've simply never heard of his two main challengers. (Also on the ballot: perennial candidate Nancy Spannaus, a follower of political extremist Lyndon LaRouche.)
Goode's main task in the next few weeks will be to change his low name recognition around the state. This week, he's setting off on a four-day tour that will take him into the state's major media markets. If it's anything like Tuesday's send-off, those four days could be colorful.
"People who haven't been associated with Virgil cannot understand the commitment he has to the people he serves," said Nelson Amos, a retired factory worker from Franklin County. But Goode inspires spirited loyalty among his constituents in his mostly rural district - especially this one.
Amos showed up at Tuesday's rally in his cherry-red 1970 Chevelle 396 SS convertible - with "Goode for U.S. Senate '94" newly emblazoned on the side.
"It was totally my idea," Amos said. "Virgil didn't even know about it until I got here this morning." Even more significant, Amos' wife didn't know about the paint job, either.
"My wife was a little upset that I didn't tell her first," Amos confided. "She said if it wasn't for Virgil, I wouldn't have let you do it."
His wife eventually relented, so Tuesday morning, there was Amos - chauffeuring Goode past a cheering crowd in downtown Rocky Mount and leading the campaign caravan into other small towns across Southside. Declared Amos: "I'll go with him anywhere he wants me to."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB