
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 2, 1994                   TAG: 9411020082
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

FAST PRESSES FOR BOUCHER DEBATE

Using his opponent's words against him, 9th District Republican candidate Steve Fast challenged Rep. Rick Boucher on Tuesday to an election-eve debate, citing a 1992 comment that Boucher's policy was to have one widely viewed debate in a campaign.

Boucher declined - again. The Abingdon Democrat repeated last week's statement that he's already had three "joint appearances" with Fast and that's enough.

Meanwhile, Northern Virginia Republican Mike Farris blasted Boucher for describing him in an Oct. 17 fund-raising letter as an ideological extremist.

"By calling me an ideological extremist, Rick Boucher is condemning everyone in the 9th District who voted for me, for George Allen or for Jim Gilmore," Farris said. He won 54.5 percent of the district's vote in his race against Lt. Gov. Don Beyer last year.

Added Fast: "The one who's really out of touch is Rick Boucher. He's out of touch because he supports Bill Clinton."

Boucher's spokesman said the letter was sent only to people who voted in the spring Democratic primary. He could not reach Boucher for reaction to the Farris comments.

On the debate issue, Fast insisted Boucher is dodging him because he has something to hide from voters. Fast resurrected the transcript of Boucher's 1992 televised debate with Gary Weddle.

When asked why he was debating Weddle only once, Boucher said then he had a policy of seeking one widely viewed debate.

"That is a policy ... that is considerably more generous than that of many of my colleagues .. who refuse to have any debates," Boucher said on Oct. 29, 1992.

Fast, a math professor from Tazewell, raised the debate issue during his final news conference, which focused on a leaked White House memo that lists a series of potential solutions - including tax increases and cuts in entitlement programs - to increases in the federal deficit expected by the late 1990s.

Fast said he would oppose any attempt to raise taxes, and pointed to Boucher's vote for the 1993 Deficit Reduction Act as evidence that the incumbent will vote with whatever President Clinton proposes. That measure included an increase in gasoline taxes and in income taxes for the wealthiest taxpayers.

Fast said he wanted Boucher to defend his voting record in a debate to be held Monday at either Radford University or Clinch Valley College, with Virginia Tech communications professor Bob Denton as moderator.

Fast and Boucher appeared together on the same platform for the first time last week at a candidates' forum in Bluefield, W.Va. One Roanoke-area television station covered the brief event, but broadcast only excerpts. Earlier in the campaign the two candidates appeared before union members on the same day and were interviewed separately for a two-hour Wise County cable TV program.

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB