Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 13, 1994 TAG: 9410130066
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARGARET EDDS AND WARREN FISKE STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In a major toughening of Oliver North's U.S. Senate strategy, the campaign on Wednesday began airing an advertisement picturing a model who claims to have had an affair with Sen. Charles Robb and said it will start limiting reporters' access to the candidate.
The TV spot, which viewers reported seeing in Richmond, Northern Virginia and Roanoke, features a Playboy Magazine cover shot of Tai Collins, a former Miss Virginia-USA from Roanoke whom Robb acknowledges gave him a nude massage in a New York City hotel room in 1983.
The ad also names four men with whom Robb socialized in Virginia Beach while he was governor a decade ago who were later convicted of drug-related charges. An announcer asks: "Why can't Chuck Robb tell the truth about the cocaine parties where Robb said he never saw drugs, and then four of his party friends went to prison for dealing cocaine?
"Or about the beauty queen in the hotel room in New York? Robb says it was only a massage."
It quotes an editorial from The Richmond Times-Dispatch: ```Chuck Robb lived a lie, and violated his oath of good faith to the people of Virginia.' Character counts, and North has it all over Robb.''
The North campaign did not respond to inquiries about the ad. North, who is running even with Robb in two polls this week, has long said that he did not intend to raise Robb's personal problems as an issue in the campaign.
But Robb, who once made similar claims about his intentions toward North, recently began showing an ad asking, "Why do so many people who have worked with Oliver North say he doesn't tell the truth?"
Meanwhile on Wednesday, advisers to North confirmed that they are restricting media access to him in reaction to a series of recent stories that they said unfairly tarnished the Republican candidate.
"From here to the end of the campaign, we're going to focus on what we want to say, not rabbit trails that random reporters would like to send us down," said campaign spokesman Mark Merritt.
"Ollie will continue campaigning and meeting people all over Virginia," he said. But on some occasions, "the only uninvited people will be members of the press corps."
The statement comes in the wake of a series of widely reported gaffes which have raised sensitive questions about North's veracity and judgment. The change is a turning point in a campaign that, while attacking the "liberal media" in fund-raising appeals and speeches, generally had been open to press scrutiny since North was nominated in June. The result was a high-profile campaign that obscured Robb for most of the summer.
Even before Merritt's confirmation, a change in strategy seemed evident. Several times in recent days, North has appeared to be dodging reporters and has turned down or imposed strict conditions on interviews.
On Tuesday, after a staff member told reporters North had no afternoon events scheduled, North made a hand-shaking visit to a Fairfax shopping center and attended a fund-raising event sponsored by the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Wednesday, staff said North's only public appearance was a U.S. Capitol press conference with Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas. North also stopped by the Vienna Metro stop in the afternoon.
Earlier this week, the North campaign turned down a request for a sit-down interview with a group of reporters on a broad range of issues. Last week, the campaign required that questions for a story involving North's personal life be submitted in writing. North's responses were delivered in writing. Robb and independent candidate Marshall Coleman gave telephone interviews.
"There will still be a lot of accessibility to the press, but it will not be as hodgepodge as it was," said Merritt. "We feel some reporters have abused their access to Ollie ... and we're going to cut it off to a degree."
In recent weeks, North has made a number of controversial statements that were reported in the press.
Among them, he said he supports the goals of the Heritage Preservation Association, which promotes public display of the Confederate flag. He dismissed Robb's military service, including a tour in Vietnam, as largely ceremonial. And he called President Clinton "boneheaded" and "a yahoo" who is "not my commander in chief."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB