Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 2, 1994 TAG: 9408020099
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
When the O.J. Simpson case burst into the news earlier this summer, Marshall Coleman was right behind it - holding news conferences to talk tough on crime and to decry what he sees as liberal rules of evidence that let too many criminals get away with murder.
When the health care reform debate began peaking last week, Coleman was there with it - calling on Congress just to forget the whole thing this year, and try again next year. ``A bad bill is worse than no bill at all,'' he said.
And with the Whitewater affair swirling anew with congressional hearings, Coleman plunged right in, calling on Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Altman to resign and demanding that Senate candidates Charles Robb and Oliver North speak out on the subject, too.
Virginia's four-way Senate race may be confusing, but at least one pattern is starting to emerge: Coleman's independent campaign is a campaign in search of a headline - any headline.
His visit to Roanoke on Monday was typical of the campaign he's running this year: He and his son, Billy, drive into town, hold a news conference on the issue of the day (Monday it was Whitewater and health care), then drive on to the next town to repeat the process.
While other candidates build their campaign trips around fund-raisers and rallies and small meetings with key supporters, Coleman's trips appear to consist almost entirely of news conferences and visits to weekly newspapers.
``I think what the public is hungry for is somebody who will talk about issues,'' he says. ``They're not just platitudes.''
So there's Coleman, staking out his position on everything from car emissions in Northern Virginia to tobacco in Southside (he's against more government regulation of both).
But the other campaigns scoff at Coleman's issue-a-day approach - especially North's campaign, which in some scenarios has the most to lose by the presence of an independent Republican in the field.
``He's seizing on anything in the public eye like a drowning man to a lifeline,'' says North spokesman Dan McLagan. ``He seems to pick up the paper, see a headline and tie himself to it. He doesn't have a campaign, it seems to me.''
And that may be the big question hovering over Coleman's campaign this summer: Does he have one? Coleman's got only two paid staffers - Robb's and North's paid staffs number in the 30s - and no visible volunteer network, either.
``I don't see the presence of a Coleman campaign,'' says Bill Wood, who runs the Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia.
The other independent in the race, Douglas Wilder, can at least count on a show of support from black political activists - and Democratic leaders are reluctant to confront them. But Republican leaders are demanding party loyalty, so few GOP activists have been willing to publicly embrace Coleman - even if privately they say they detest North.
Coleman contends ``thousands and thousands and thousands'' of volunteers have called his Northern Virginia headquarters. But ask him who his key backers in the Roanoke Valley are, and he dances around the subject.
``We're putting all that in place,'' he said at Monday's news conference.
Besides, Coleman contends, he won't need much of an organization this year.
``The purpose of an organization is to get people out to vote. Everybody will turn out this year. I don't think we have to worry about getting the vote out.''
But some political analysts say if Coleman doesn't show some evidence of a campaign organization soon, he's in danger of becoming the first candidate crowded out of the field.
``I don't think he's going to come back from this, because we're approaching Labor Day and one would need to be gearing up significantly for the Labor Day to November push,'' says Toni-Michelle Travis of George Mason University.
She says Coleman's news conference-heavy campaign won't cut it. ``Certainly in the age of television, you have to show there are people behind you,'' she says. Otherwise, voters may worry they're ``wasting'' their votes and search for other candidates.
Coleman, though, contends that voters won't focus on the campaign until October. Then, he says, they'll be so disgusted by the prospect of Robb and North that they'll demand an alternative - and a tidal wave of support will roll his way, carrying him to victory.
Who knows? Wood is curious because, even though Coleman appears to lack a campaign structure, he's been competitive in some (but not all) of the early polls.
``If nobody's for him, what's he doing hovering in the 20 percent range in the polls?'' Wood asks.
It's like there's a phantom vote out there, waiting to vote for Coleman even if no one works for him. ``I'm fascinated.'' he says.
U.S. Sen. John Warner's high-profile backing of Coleman also may give him buoyancy, Wood says.
The man responsible for getting Coleman into this race - Northern Virginia developer Dan Clemente - says what happens in the summer is misleading.
``I think there's a lot of pressure [from Republican leaders] to stay low,'' he says. By the fall, he says, Coleman should have enough money to take his message to the voters on television - and his shortage of staff won't matter.
``I think the whole campaign is the month of October,'' he says.
The only non-celebrity in the field, Coleman doesn't lack issues to talk about.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB