Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 17, 1994                   TAG: 9408170058
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                 LENGTH: Medium

ROBB STANDS BY CLINTON

Not Sen. Charles Robb of Virginia.

So far, Robb has stood firm in his support for Clinton, whose battered public approval ratings took a one-two punch last week from setbacks in crime legislation and health care reform.

"Senator Robb has said he would not run from the president, and he hasn't," campaign manager Susan Platt said.

Political analysts say Robb's strategy, while ill-advised for any other Southern Democrat, makes sense in Virginia's four-way free-for-all of a Senate contest.

"If he can lock up the Clinton base, he is well on his way to winning," said William Schneider, a national political analyst at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.

The idea is that Robb could win without having to assemble the broad coalition that carried him to three statewide election victories since 1977. In a four-way race, Robb could win a plurality of the vote with a strong showing among the state's core Democratic base. Public opinion polls show that Clinton's approval rating in Virginia is just less than 40 percent.

The danger for Robb is that he could find it hard to disentangle himself from the White House if Clinton continues to stumble.

"Clinton could melt down a great deal if he cannot salvage the crime bill - and he's not out of the woods there - and he cannot salvage something for health care," said Mark Rozell, a political scientist at Mary Washington College.

Robert Holsworth, a political scientist at Virginia Commonwealth University, said, ``That has always been the gamble of Robb's initial strategy."

Clinton's popularity is so suspect that, so far, no Democrat has used the president's image in campaign commercials, according to Doug Bailey, publisher of The Hotline, a political newsletter in Washington. The only place Clinton's likeness has appeared, Bailey said, has been in GOP commercials that demonize the president.

Even Clinton's own pollster has advised congressional candidates to emphasize their independence.

Thirteen of the 16 Democrats in the Senate who are seeking re-election have taken that advice, according to Schneider. The three exceptions are: Sen. Ted Kennedy, an unabashed liberal from Massachusetts; Sen. Harris Wofford, a Pennsylvania legislator who has staked his reputation on health care reform; and Robb.

Robb has refused to waver in his general support for the president, despite being labeled a "Clinton clone" by his three challengers, Republican Oliver North and independents Douglas Wilder and Marshall Coleman.

"I'm pleased to be supportive of the president. I make no apologies for that whatsoever," Robb said in a nationally televised debate on CNN's "Larry King Live."

Robb's strategy is fundamentally different from his approach to previous elections.

In 1981, he became the savior of the Virginia Democratic Party when he put together a coalition that appealed to business leaders and rural conservatives.

In this campaign, Robb has focused his attention on core Democratic groups such as organized labor, teachers' unions, abortion rights advocates and gay rights advocates. He has alienated many voters in rural areas with his support for a ban on certain assault weapons, for increased deficit reduction through a 50-cent tax on gasoline and for gays in the military.

``He moved to the left pretty early,'' said Stu Rothenberg, editor of a newsletter on congressional campaigns. ``I think he's decided that he can hold onto that core Democratic vote that makes up about one-third of the electorate in Virginia. I think it's a very reasonable strategy.''

Robb's supporters say he is willing to remain independent of Clinton and national Democrats on key issues, as evidenced by his demands for deeper deficit reduction and his support for U.S. military action in the Persian Gulf War.

"He has been willing to buck the establishment on any given issue," Platt, the campaign manager, said. "He has his own record, and he's proud of it. This is what he is going to run on, not someone else's record."

Keywords:
POLITICS