Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 1, 1994 TAG: 9411010121
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALEC KLEIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LAWRENCEVILLE LENGTH: Long
The Republican nominee said that Robb, ``because he's behind in the polls, has decided that he has no choice but to inject race as an issue ... I think it's outrageous. I think people who are taken for granted by a political party or by a candidate ought to be just as outraged themselves.''
North's indignation was matched by the retort from the Democratic incumbent's camp: ``That sounds ironic from someone who wraps himself in the Confederate flag and uses strong-armed tactics to exclude African-Americans from his campaign events,'' said Robb spokeswoman Peggy Wilhide.
Race emerged as a flashpoint in the campaign last week.
GOP state chairman Patrick McSweeney on Friday castigated the Democratic party for drumming up votes with a phone-bank message invoking David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klan leader who won the Louisiana GOP gubernatorial primary a few years ago. McSweeney also charged that the Democratic party virtually monopolized Virginia's black community by paying workers to ``flush out'' votes, making it senseless for Republicans to court blacks in the final days of the campaign.
The state Democratic party returned the volley, skewering McSweeney for dismissing black voters and charging that North proved the point by failing to attend a state NAACP candidates' forum. Both Robb and independent candidate Marshall Coleman spoke to the NAACP.
``I think a lot of people will see it for what it is - racist politics,'' North said of the charges against him. ``I think it's incredibly arrogant for people like Chuck Robb to ... tell people something that's, first of all, wrong - outrageously so - and expect they're going to do what he tells them to do, no matter what color they are.''
With a week until Election Day, it is no surprise that race has reared its head in the campaign: Polls show that black voters - who make up about 18 percent of the electorate - could determine the outcome of the Nov. 8 election. North and Robb are locked in a virtual dead heat.
The incumbent has acknowledged the importance of black support to his re-election, relying heavily in recent days on Douglas Wilder, the nation's first elected black governor, to court the black community.
In doing so, Robb has also compared North to David Duke as a Republican candidate who has been disavowed by other Republicans. Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson made the same comparison during a recent campaign appearance in Hampton Roads.
North, noting that he campaigned against Duke in 1990, suggested that Robb's interests in the black community are insincere.
``He pops into three black churches [on a recent weekend] and zips up just long enough to get his face in front of a congregation,'' North said. ``I've been to a lot of black churches, and when I go, I stay for the service.''
The Republican added, ``Chuck Robb is part of the Democratic machine that's taken their [minorities'] vote for granted and made a major effort to polarize this race along racial lines.''
Yet, North has been accused of the same. At a recent campaign rally, the Richmond Times-Dispatch has reported, a black woman accused a North aide of blocking her admission because of her race. Democrats also charged that North raised the race card by issuing a statement opposing statehood for predominantly black Washington, D.C.
Earlier in the campaign, North came under attack for defending public display of the Confederate flag.
North said the media have ignored his efforts to reach out to all communities, and that black voters are reluctant to openly support him because he has been branded a racist.
``It's an act of extraordinary courage just to be seen around me,'' he said. ``... It's savage ... [the Democratic party] called me a racist, they've lied about the fact that I went down to campaign against David Duke.''
Recalling his days as a Marine in Vietnam, North said: ``It didn't make any difference what color they were. We treated them all the same, as if they were green.''
Robb spent most of the weekend campaigning before African-American groups with Wilder by his side.
On Monday, though, Robb went to Newport News to display the power of the incumbency and to reach out to another valuable bloc of voters: moderate Republicans who admire the state's other senator, John Warner.
The Democrat positioned himself directly behind a ceremonial table where U.S. Transportation Secretary Federico Pena signed a $152 million loan guarantee for a Greek shipping company's order for four 46,500-ton tankers at Newport News Shipbuilding. It is the first overseas order for commercial vessels received by a U.S. shipbuilder since 1957.
Robb later told reporters that bringing the contract to Virginia was made possible in part by teamwork between himself and Warner.
``It's clear that Sen. Warner and I have certainly as effective a working relationship as any two senators in the Senate,'' he said.
Robb declined to say whether he had talked with Warner about the possibility of withdrawing support from Coleman if last-minute polls show Coleman has no chance of winning.
``We're friends of long standing,'' he said of Warner. ``I don't want to say anymore because I don't want to get him in anymore trouble with his party.''
Later Monday afternoon, Coleman and Warner campaigned together outside the shipyard and vowed to stay in the race until the end.
``Marshall and I are in it to win it for Marshall and we're going to stay there until the close of the ballot box on Tuesday,'' Warner said. He also said he intends to campaign side-by-side with Coleman through Election Day.
Staff writers David M. Poole and Keith Monroe contributed to this story.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB