Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 2, 1994 TAG: 9405020098
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Dwayne Yancey
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Like many Virginians, he's dissatisfied with the prospect of having to choose between Charles Robb and Oliver North in this fall's Senate race. The difference is, Clemente took it upon himself to conduct his own market research.
A few weeks ago, the Northern Virginia developer plunked down $10,000 to hire a polling company and "tested" the names of seven prominent Virginians - five Republicans and two Democrats - in a three-way race against Robb and North.
Clemente won't say whose names he tested, except that "they're people you've heard of."
And that one of them ran much better than any of the others - former GOP attorney general and two-time gubernatorial candidate Marshall Coleman.
Coleman's name recognition came in at 70 percent - not really a surprise, given that he was a contender in every statewide race from 1977 to 1989.
More intriguing to Clemente were these figures:
Of those Virginians surveyed, 56 percent said they had negative vibes about North, whose chief claim to fame is that he was the principal figure in the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal of the late 1980s.
47 percent said they had negative feelings toward Robb, who has been accused of frequenting sex-and-drugs parties in Virginia Beach during the early 1980s and has admitted doing things "not appropriate for a married man."
But only 15 percent felt negatively toward Coleman, despite the judgment of many political analysts that one reason he lost the 1989 governor's race was that he came across as too mean-spirited.
The most fascinating numbers in the poll, though, Clemente will only hint at - the hypothetical head-to-head-to-head match-up in a three-way race.
"Marshall was substantially ahead of North and just a little bit ahead of Robb," is all Clemente will say.
Oh yes, and this: "The pollster wrote me a note and said `Marshall should run. He could win this thing.'"
So two weeks ago, Clemente further complicated Virginia's political picture by revealing he's hired staff to mount a petition drive to get Coleman's name on the fall ballot as an "independent Republican."
Clemente, who describes himself as a "moderate," says he's motivated by his disgust with Robb and North. "There was a time when U.S senators were role models and if they did something embarrassing, they weren't forced out of office, they resigned."
Now he sees both parties' front-runners as liars. "I've raised seven children. I don't know how you sit down with a teen-ager and say `Senator Robb says oral sex isn't cheating.'"
For all of Clemente's rightteous indignation, many who follow Virginia politics see him as a front man - and his petition drive as little more than a trial balloon for yet another Coleman comeback attempt.
After all, Clemente is no political novice. He helped resuscitate Coleman after he lost the 1981 governor's race to Robb; Clemente introduced Coleman to the deep-pocketed Northern Virginia developers who wound up underwriting Coleman's unsuccessful 1989 governor's race against Wilder.
But Clemente insists he didn't set out this time to revive Coleman again - he simply wanted some market research on potential alternatives to the current crop of candidates.
Furthermore, Clemente says he didn't tell Coleman or any of the other political figures whose names he used in the poll what he was doing.
Nevertheless, Clemente says he's confident he can persuade Coleman to run. "I have to believe Marshall is seriously considering what I'm doing. It's been in the news and he hasn't told me to stop."
To be sure, the normally quotable Coleman has been conspicuously silent these past few weeks, declining to return reporters' phone calls.
Clemente says he doesn't intend to talk with Coleman until after the Republican convention June 3-4. "I don't want to put him in an embarrassing position. I know he's supporting Jim Miller."
But Clemente, like most other political observers, figures North has the Republican nomination sewn up, and he wants to be in a position to act quickly after that.
So Clemente has hired 20 people to collect the 15,000 signatures required to get Coleman's name on the ballot - and is rapidly adding on more. "I hope to have 50 people out there this weekend," Clemente says.
He says he hopes to wrap up the petition drive soon, then turn his attention to fund raising.
Just where will Coleman get the money to mount a statewide campaign? He turned off Richmond's Main Street financial crowd during the 1981 race, and many of the Northern Virginia developers on whom he relied during 1989 have gone bust.
No problem, Clemente says. If Robb and North are the nominees, he says, Virginia's Senate race will be a "national" campaign - and Coleman will be able to raise oodles of cash from Republicans across the country who can't stomach the thought of North representing their party in the Congress to which he's admitted lying.
Clemente figures the real action won't start until after the Republican convention; then he'll have 10 days to present his petitions and persuade Coleman to let his name go on the ballot. During those same 10 days, former Gov. Douglas Wilder may make up his mind to go the independent route - and the Democratic primary will be building to a close on June 14.
Remember the political potboiler, "Seven Days in May"?
Virginia's "Ten Days in June" could rival that for drama.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB