Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 4, 1994 TAG: 9410050044
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
Coleman, campaigning Monday in Lynchburg and Bedford, wouldn't say much about his impending television campaign, except to say that he'll be on in all markets - including pricey Northern Virginia - and that he'll have some things to say about his two opponents.
Presumably, they won't be nice things.
"I'm going to remind people of who I'm running against," he says.
He also renewed his challenge for Democratic incumbent Sen. Charles Robb and Republican nominee Oliver North to join him in debates - something they so far have been reluctant to do.
A bowl to go?
Robb and Vice President Al Gore almost made a surprise stop Friday night at a downtown Roanoke landmark - The Texas Tavern, the open-all-night chili shop that claims to seat a million people, "10 at a time."
Robb had planned to show off the hole-in-the-wall cafe to Gore after their rally at the City Market Building and perhaps even stay long enough to order up their own cheesy westerns.
But the City Market rally ran too late, then "logistics" prevented them from stopping by, says Robb spokeswoman Peggy Wilhide.
A little Veep humor
Every politician needs to know at least one joke. If you're vice president, it helps to know a bunch. If they're about yourself, all the better.
Gore warmed up a Roanoke audience Friday with a whole series of jokes poking fun at how stiff and wooden he is reputed to be. Many of them also managed to work in references to his recent ankle injury while playing basketball.
A sampling:
The cast on his ankle will come off soon. "I'll have to wear the old body cast for several more years."
"When the doctors opened up my leg, they were shocked to find termites."
"I was under anesthesia for about 90 minutes, although the doctors had trouble telling the difference."
"Al Gore is so boring his Secret Service code name is ... Al Gore."
"Al Gore is an inspiration to millions of people suffering from ... Dutch Elm disease."
Credit where none is due
Democrats on the campaign trail this fall are complaining that the Clinton administration isn't getting the attention it deserves for holding down inflation.
However, Robb's Senate campaign is stoking inflation of another sort. When Robb toured the Roanoke Valley with House of Delegates Majority Leader Richard Cranwell in early September, the official schedule listed his escort as "Speaker Cranwell."
And Friday's schedule for Gore's visit showed Air Force Two touching down at "Roanoke International Airport."
Any way you slice it
Democrats said a cake was a dumb symbol for North to use last week to mock what he called the "shotgun wedding" between Robb and former Gov. Douglas Wilder, a Democrat.
"The last time Ollie had a cake, he took it to the Ayatollah," said David Doak, media consultant to Robb.
Doak was referring to the cake that North carried with him to Tehran in May 1986 as a token of friendship to the Iranians who claimed they could gain the release of American hostages in Lebanon in exchange for U.S. arms.
The trip was a flop, but it did not dampen North's enthusiasm for arms deals with Iran. The White House official secretly and illegally was diverting profits from the arms sales to rebels in Nicaragua.
Black ministers back Robb
A group of 160 black ministers from throughout Hampton Roads endorsed U.S. Sen. Charles Robb's re-election bid in Norfolk on Monday, saying Republican challenger Oliver North ``would turn back the clock on all the gains we made as a people in the past 40 years.''
It was the first political endorsement that the Tidewater Metro Baptist Ministers' Conference has made in any members' memory, and could be the first in its 112-year history, said Rev. James Edwards III, chairman of the group's political-action committee.
``We have come a long way in obtaining our rights,'' said Dr. Milton A. Reid, pastor of Gideon's Riverside Fellowship in Chesapeake. ``Col. North represents that ultra-conservative wing of the Republican Party which says, in effect, that we've come too far.''
The conference represents 80 area Baptist churches with a combined membership numbering in the thousands.
In a statement read at an afternoon news conference, the group ``wholeheartedly'' endorsed Robb, saying he has a strong record of commitment to black concerns.
``Sen. Robb has supported our efforts - and justice issues in Virginia, the nation and around the world that would make peace,'' said Edwards.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB