Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 22, 1994 TAG: 9408220101
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Click. There's former Gov. Douglas Wilder in a church pulpit speaking to the Wayland-Blue Ridge Association of Baptist Churches in Culpeper.
Click. Here's former state Attorney General Marshall Coleman breaking bread with potential contributors at a Bristol eatery.
Click. Here's former Iran-Contra figure Oliver North wooing leaders of the Law Enforcement Alliance of America in Falls Church.
Who's missing from the picture? Incumbent Sen. Charles Robb, who had to cancel campaign appearances for a fifth consecutive day because Congress remained deadlocked over President Clinton's crime bill and health care reform proposals.
At noon, Robb was holed up in his Senate office listening to a pair of lobbyists from Newport News Shipbuilding make a pitch for federal subsidies for their industry. It was the fifth meeting of a day in which Robb would wait for a logjam-breaking compromise that never materialized and for an August recess that may not begin before the month is out.
Robb complained that he was a virtual hostage to the Senate while his three challengers are free to roam around the state shaking hands, hustling campaign contributions and generating media coverage.
Robb, a first-term Democrat, said he had no choice but to see his Senate duties to the end. The only thing worse than limited campaigning, he said, would be to open himself to criticism that he puts politicking ahead of keeping criminals off the streets or expanding health benefits to those who now go without.
``Doing the best job in the office that I have now is probably the most important thing I could be doing,'' he said.
As August slips away, however, some Democratic activists around the state are mindful that they lost last year's gubernatorial race after their nominee, Mary Sue Terry, disappeared for most of the summer.
Democrats are particularly alarmed as they watch North, the Republican nominee, attract mobs of autograph-hungry spectators in his travels around the state. North, a former Marine who was convicted and then cleared on a technicality of three felonies for his role in the Iran-Contra affair, has held a series of events designed to portray him as an everyday guy who can hook a fish, handle a shotgun and ride a Harley-Davidson.
``I don't think you can give this guy a free ride all summer,'' said Mark Graham, Democratic chairman in Washington County, who said he would like Robb to be more visible. ``To some extent, North has tried to recast his image, and he has had some success. I think if you wait until October to remind people of his record, it will be too late to slow that train down.''
Last week, Robb sought to reassure Democratic activists that his campaign is alive and well despite his inability to attend many campaign functions. In a letter to party leaders, Robb outlined steps his campaign is taking to invigorate grass-roots efforts and asked for activists to hold the lines until he can break away from the Senate.
On Friday, Robb got an unexpected furlough from Capitol Hill when the Senate, which had expected to stay in session for most of the weekend, adjourned until this evening. That gave Robb three full days on the campaign trail.
The overtime Senate session has not completely halted campaigning, particularly for senators such as Robb whose states are not far from the Capitol. Sen. Paul Sarbanes, a Maryland Democrat, has been able to keep up a regular schedule of appearances around his state throughout the summer.
Sarbanes commutes to Washington each day from Baltimore, which allows him to attend breakfasts with supporters on the way to work and evening receptions on the way home, according to his press secretary.
Robb's residence on the Potomac River in McLean makes commuter campaigning impractical. ``You can have only so many Arlington fund-raisers,'' Robb said.
As a result, Robb has made few public campaign appearances in August. He has relied on surrogate appearances by his wife, Lynda Johnson Robb, and his two grown daughters.
Almost all of his extra time has been consumed by raising the campaign funds that he will need to compete against North's nationwide direct-mail machinery, which is expected to shatter the $16.9 million record set by Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., in 1990.
In an interview in his Senate office, Robb said that while he was frustrated by not getting on the campaign trail, he was confident there is plenty of time left before November.
His confidence stemmed in part from a recent statewide poll conducted for his campaign. He declined to provide the results, but said it reinforced his belief that the two independents - Wilder and Coleman - will fade into obscurity because they lack the organization and funds that political parties can provide.
``I don't see any way for them to come into contention,'' Robb said.
In this scenario, the campaign will become a conventional two-way race that offers voters a clear choice between Robb and North.
But Robb conceded that there is something fundamentally unconventional about this year's race: Instead of focusing on the incumbent, as most elections do, this one is all about one of the challengers.
``It almost becomes a referendum on North,'' Robb said.
Robb, who burst onto the Virginia political scene in 1977 as the son-in-law of former President Lyndon Johnson, said he was not bothered that his own star power may have been eclipsed by the celebrity of North, who gained international fame in his televised appearance before a congressional panel investigating the Iran-Contra affair in 1987.
Robb said that while North has drawn impressive crowds, he is convinced that many of the people who line up to shake his hand have no intention of voting for the Republican.
``They'll also go down and look at the two-headed calf,'' he said. ``It's a curiosity.''
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POLITICS
by CNB