Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 12, 1994 TAG: 9406140188
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE and MARGARET EDDS STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: MCLEAN LENGTH: Long
U.S. Sen. Charles Robb, nearing the first test of his bid to salvage a once-shining political career, flexed the muscle of incumbency Saturday by picnicking with Vice President Al Gore on the grounds of a suburban school outside the nation's capital.
Robb pushed ahead with his campaign strategy of ignoring the swirl of rumor and innuendo about his private life that have made him the butt of late-night comedians' jokes.
"Do not be complacent," said Gore, urging a crowd of about 500 to go to the polls Tuesday for Robb. "A lot's at stake in this election - a lot for America, a lot for Virginia, a lot for you."
Robb's leading primary opponent, state Sen. Virgil Goode, returned to his rural roots with a rousing speech before Southside Democrats in Farmville.
"You know what some have said, `There's no way someone with a rural, Southside accent can win statewide,' " Goode said, his arms flailing and his twang working at an auctioneer's pace.
". . . And I'll tell you this, there's people who are not going to vote on how you talk. They're going to vote on what you say, the content of your character, how you stand for jobs, how you stand for education."
In 48 hours, Democrats will be going to the polls to decide who will face Republican Oliver North in November.
Before the night is out Tuesday, Virginia also should know whether the nationally spotlighted race will become a four-way demolition derby with two independent candidates, former Democratic Gov. Douglas Wilder and former GOP state Attorney General Marshall Coleman.
Robb is favored to win the Democrats' first statewide primary in 14 years. He has swamped the competition in fund raising and has racked up the backing of key Democratic interest groups: labor, teachers, abortion rights advocates, environmentalists and homosexuals.
The time-tested skills of several of those groups at getting members to the polls is a tremendous plus for Robb in an election in which probably no more than 15 percent of the state's 2.9 million voters will participate.
"The problem is running against an incumbent," said Wingate "Wink" Lucas, campaign coordinator for Sylvia Clute, a Richmond lawyer and one of three Democrats challenging Robb. "There's no way you're going to get anyone of importance in the party. They are raised to support the incumbent."
Still, a Robb victory is no sure thing. Almost a quarter of Democrats remained undecided in a public opinion poll taken last week, and an unpredictable turnout - in which thousands of Republicans may vote and thousands of disgruntled Democrats may stay home - leaves room for an upset.
The Mason-Dixon poll showed Robb leading with 43 percent of the vote, followed by Goode with 22 percent and Clute with 9 percent. Nancy Spannaus, a perennial candidate who is employed by political extremist Lyndon LaRouche, was last with 2 percent.
Analysts say the high number of undecided Democrats shows a striking lack of enthusiasm for Robb, a once-popular governor who swept into the U.S. Senate six years ago with 71 percent of the vote.
Robb has been saddled by reports about after-hours socializing at Virginia Beach during his term as governor and by a feud with Wilder that led three of Robb's former aides to plead guilty to minor infractions in a cellular telephone-taping incident.
Goode has offered himself as a scandal-free alternative to Robb, but the groundswell of support that he anticipated has been slow in coming.
Goode has lacked campaign finances to make a major impact outside of his state senate district, which skirts the Blue Ridge Mountains between Roanoke and the North Caroline line. His conservative positions on gun control, the Equal Rights Amendment and tobacco restrictions have made it difficult for him to win converts among Democratic activists in voter-rich Northern Virginia.
"Virgil has absolutely no support in Northern Virginia," Clute said.
Another reason why Goode's campaign has failed to generate much enthusiasm is the candidate himself. Goode, a loner by nature, has little to say to voters he encounters, other than to hand them red-white-and-blue campaign pencils.
Goode is counting on a novel rural-based strategy that appears to defy conventional wisdom in an increasingly suburban state. He is hoping to ignite a brushfire of support in rural areas - particularly in his legislative district - that will engulf a sparse turnout in urban and suburban areas.
But there was no sign of a Goode conflagration Saturday as some 130 Democrats from rural Virginia gathered in a Prince Edward County high school auditorium for the 5th District convention.
About half of the Democrats preferred not to wear Goode lapel stickers. Goode's speech was greeted with hearty cheers, but no one followed suit when a dozen or so Goode supporters from Franklin, Patrick and Henry counties jumped to their feet. The convention gave standing ovations only to Lt. Gov. Don Beyer and Rep. L.F. Payne, D-Nelson County.
Rural Democrats who said they would stick with Robb noted their gratitude for Robb's role in revitalizing the state Democratic Party in the 1980s, after more than a decade of dissension and despair.
"I remember that distinctly," said Bobby Mitchell, the party chairman in Appomattox County. "We had a long, dry run. He brought the state back to the Democratic Party."
Meanwhile, Clute campaigned Saturday at the Fairfax Fair. She has won endorsements from the National Organization for Women and the National Women's Political Caucus, but her all-volunteer campaign has been hamstrung by the lack of money and expertise.
In McLean, Robb and Gore traded compliments as Democrats munched watermelon and sipped lemonade at what was billed as a "family picnic" at the Langley School.
Robb said he's very "pleased" to have cast the deciding vote for President Clinton's 1993 budget plan, even though he acknowledged that his opponents may hit him "right square in the teeth" for saying so.
He said the Clinton-Gore team is making "principled choices" and that he "looks forward to 16 productive years known as the Clinton-Gore years."
Gore quipped that both he and Robb are often described as "stiff and boring," but even unexciting politicians "can get something done." He praised Robb for his accomplishments in education, foreign policy and the protection of abortion rights.
Several members of Robb's family were in the audience, including a younger brother whose somewhat bohemian lifestyle has been contrasted with the senator's.
David Robb, who described himself as a "homeless" landscape artist who housesits for friends in Madison, Wis., said his brother's personal trials have taken a "horrible toll on Chuckles. Just kind of look at him."
But David Robb, 49, said he believes that allegations that his brother used drugs are unfounded. "If he's done cocaine, I'm the Messiah."
As for the future, "He's coming back," David Robb said. "He's stronger now than he was a year ago."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB