Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 14, 1994 TAG: 9410240020
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ELIZABETH OBENSHAIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Coleman's optimism comes in the face of the latest statewide poll that shows Robb, the Democratic incumbent, and North, his Republican challenger, in a dead heat at 39 percent each. Coleman, running as an independent, tallied 12 percent in the Commonwealth Poll conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University.
Coleman told the Blacksburg Rotary Club that his own poll by Mason Dixon Campaign Polling shows him at 18 percent. However, the numbers Coleman stressed were that 29 percent of the voters said they would vote for him and 17 percent said they might if they thought he could win.
As his television exposure begins and the barrage of negative ads against his opponents increases, he's determinedly optimistic voters will increasingly turn to him.
Coleman's campaign did receive a boost this week with a surprise endorsement from the normally Democratic Fredericksburg paper, The Free Lance-Star, which called him "a mainstream Republican of proven ability and character."
The editorial labeled North the point man for a "national effort to concoct a troubling mix of politics and religion." It faulted Robb for his poor personal judgment, saying "he falls short of the standards that should be met by a senator."
Coleman, in his speech and later in taping a Blue Ridge Public Television program, slammed his opponents, saying Virginians have "two of the most depressing choices ever faced by the voters of this state." He described North and Robb as being "uncommonly unpopular" candidates campaigning under false colors.
"They are pretending to be nearly the exact opposite of what they are," he said, criticizing Robb for his liberal voting record and North for his "contempt for the law.
"North and Robb, more than anything else, don't want to be compared to a normal person," he said, drawing laughter from his audience.
He described North's recent comments as "kooky," such as his statement that President Clinton was "not my commander in chief."
Coleman's priorities, if elected, would be tax relief for middle income families, a national defense second to none and changes in the criminal justice system.
"I'm not suggesting my opponents don't know about criminal courts - but they know it from a different perspective," joked Coleman, who contrasted his own credentials as a prosecutor and the state's first Republican attorney general with his opponents' legal problems. He said he had favored reforms similar to Gov. George Allen's parole reforms back in the '70s but found his efforts blocked by then Gov. Robb.
Among other issues, he supported reducing the capital gains rate to spur private investment, term limits and the line-item veto.
He endorsed health care reform, but not "Clintoncare," advocating portability of insurance, reasonable coverage of pre-existing conditions, malpractice reform, but not employer mandates.
When asked about tobacco, which could bear some of the cost for health care reforms, he said, "Tobacco and Virginia go together." He charged that Robb was "at war with the tobacco industry" and promised he would not "undercut" the state's tobacco farmers.
Coleman has retained a sense of humor on the campaign trail. To the partisan Virginia Tech crowd Thursday, he confessed his ties to the University of Virginia where he was an undergraduate, but assured his listeners, "my other habits are good."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB