Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 13, 1994 TAG: 9410130059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Announcing Wednesday that it has targeted the contest as winnable, the National Republican Party said it will infuse $60,000, the maximum amount allowable by law, into Republican challenger George Landrith's bid to unseat Democratic incumbent L.F. Payne of Nelson County.
Following right behind that news and in response to reports earlier this week that Payne's campaign could be in trouble, Payne's staff broke with campaign policy to release an internal poll that showed him leading Landrith by 38 points.
The Landrith campaign countered Payne's poll with its own, which showed a 3 percent difference between any incumbent and challenger in the district.
Landrith may not be painting an accurate picture of the race, but Payne's figures aren't right, either, said Virginia Tech political analyst Bob Denton.
Denton said Payne's poll, which showed him leading Landrith 64 percent to 26 percent, is off. "Incumbents wish they had 60 percent of the vote right now. [Payne's campaign] is just trying to negate the impact of the fact that it's winnable" for the Republicans. "They're trying to counter the impression that Landrith is a threat ... that the game could be over.
"George Landrith's proven he's viable and worth the money and the risk. He's run a pretty good campaign. There's no way he's in the 20 percent bracket. For [the National Republican Party] to give Landrith the money, he would have to be breaking 40 percent.
"If he's not, then why aren't they doing the same thing for Steve Fast in the 9th District?"
Fast was not targeted as a winnable candidate by the national party Wednesday, and his campaign manager declined comment on the news. Fast has raised more than $155,000 since starting his campaign against seven-term Democratic incumbent Rick Boucher of Abingdon, but that's still grass-roots compared with Boucher's $600,000 war chest.
Landrith, on the other hand, has raised about $120,000 since June 30 but his campaign's total fund raising exceeds $200,000, not including the $60,000 from the Republican Party. Payne's war chest weighs in at more than $400,000.
The Republican Party also targeted the following races and gave $60,000 to each candidate: Jim Chapman against Democrat Owen Pickett of Virginia Beach in the 2nd District, George Sweet against incumbent Norm Sisisky of Petersburg in the 4th District, and Tom Davis against Leslie Byrne of Northern Virginia in the 11th District.
Linda Moore, Payne's campaign manager, said she had no idea why the Republican Party chose the 5th District race as winnable. "I don't know why. Hope, maybe?"
Staff writer Brian Kelley contributed to this story.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB