Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 9, 1994 TAG: 9406090037
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-14 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
This time, aides say, Coleman will take a "positive" approach.
If so, that will be a marked contrast from the "slash and burn" tactics that helped Coleman chop down Paul Trible in the 1989 Republican primary for governor - but which left Coleman stuck with the burdensome label of a "negative" campaigner in the fall campaign that year.
The "new" Coleman was on display this week as he made a series of telephone calls to reporters around the state to say that he's "inclined" to run - and is already putting together a campaign staff.
Asked repeatedly what was so wrong with GOP nominee Oliver North - or Democratic incumbent Sen. Charles Robb, for that matter - that he is compelled to run as an independent, Coleman declined to take the bait.
"I'm not running to oppose any person," Coleman said, "but to put forward some ideas." Those ideas are your standard conservative themes about less government and lower taxes, but without North's political baggage.
The closest Coleman would come to criticism was when he observed that many voters are dissatisfied with the present choices they have in the Senate race.
An aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, laid out the reason for Coleman's uncharacteristic reticence to go on the attack: The dynamics of a multi-candidate race make it dangerous, he said, for one candidate to attack another. If Candidate A says bad things about Candidate B, voters may agree - but decide they don't like Candidate A's "negativism" and shift to Candidate C or Candidate D instead.
"I'd be very careful of being the candidate who lets that genie out of the bottle," the aide said.
A sneak preview
Robb and North also signaled this week the type of campaigns they expect to run this fall.
North's red-meat conservative themes, heavily laden with talk of cultural values, should come as no surprise.
North saves particular venom for President Clinton. During his Roanoke stop, North referred to the chief executive as "Mr. Clinton." He explained, to loud approval from the crowd, that "I have difficulty using the words 'President' and 'Clinton' in the same paragraph."
North's also made clear his disgust for the youthful staffers of the Clinton administration in his acceptance speech at the convention, saying, "Virginians are sick and tired of a Congress run by back-slapping good old boys and a White House governed by a bunch of twentysomething kids with an earring and an ax to grind ... "
Robb, during a stop in Roanoke, said he would try to focus on "the great rights issues - civil rights, equal rights, human rights, reproductive rights." Robb said he recognized some of his positions - such as his support for gays in the military - may not be popular. However, he said it's those rights issues where the differences between him and North are likely to be clearest.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB