Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 2, 1994 TAG: 9411020085
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It was difficult to tell what delighted the 250 Democrats who squeezed into Robb's downtown Roanoke headquarters more - the strong words about North, or the sight of the usually stiff and awkward Robb delivering a rip-roaring campaign speech that had supporters shouting, "Give 'em hell."
"I think it's the best speech he's ever given," said Salem lawyer Bob Hunt. "If he keeps giving that speech, that'll put him over the top. That was as electrifying as I have seen."
With a week to go before the election, Robb seems set on attacking North on two fronts, blistering the Republican as a flat-out liar and attempting to depict him as an extremist who would endanger Social Security.
On Tuesday, Robb took to the airwaves with a new television commercial that plays up North's comment in Vinton last week that, in the future, he'd like to see Social Security become voluntary.
Robb hit the Social Security theme during his dinner-time stop in Roanoke, too. "In Ollie's World," Robb declared, "Social Security is made voluntary and throws over half our seniors into poverty."
But Robb's main pitch was a bare-knuckled characterization of North that outdid any others the normally reticent senator has leveled on the campaign trail this fall.
"Catch all of this, I've worked on this," Robb advised the crowd. "My opponent is a document-shredding, Constitution-trashing, commander-in-chief-bashing, ayatollah-loving, arms-dealing, drug-condoning, Noriega-coddling, Swiss banking law-breaking, letter-faking, self-serving snake-oil salesman who can't tell the difference between the truth and a lie.
"Just ask Nancy Reagan. Just ask President Reagan. Just ask Norman Schwarzkopf. Just ask Colin Powell. Just ask anyone who worked with him."Robb then re-cycled a theme that Vice President Al Gore first used during his visit to Roanoke in late September, asking Virginia voters to consider themselves as employers - and the Senate candidates as job applicants.
"Don't be fooled by this slick job applicant," Robb said. "Before you even think about hiring Oliver North on November 8, check his references."
Robb also did something he hasn't done much of this fall - taking time to talk about his own record, and defend that of the Clinton administration.
"Oliver North talks a lot about my record on taxes, so let's talk about my record on taxes," Robb said.
Yes, Robb said, he'd voted for Clinton's deficit-reduction package that, as Republicans like to point out, is the largest tax increase in history.
But, Robb said, "only 1.3 percent of the wealthiest Virginians got a tax increase."
Instead, he said, the bill provided "a tax break for 330,000 Virginia families and 30,000 small businesses" - plus trimmed the deficit.
Other speakers also praised Clinton's handling of the economy, pointing out how unemployment is down, and the president's approval rating is edging up. That bodes well for Democrats in next week's elections, said Danny LeBlanc, president of the state AFL-CIO. "The gloom and doom of two weeks ago is gone," he said.
That has put Democrats in a distinctly more enthusiastic frame of mind than they were in a few weeks ago. "It's starting to move," said Del. Vic Thomas, D-Roanoke. "I've been to a thousand political meetings and I've never seen enthusiasm like this. That's the honest truth."
Another reason for the Democrats' enthusiasm Tuesday was the presence of former Gov. Douglas Wilder, who abandoned his independent Senate bid in mid-September and is now campaigning on behalf of Robb.
One of the subtexts to Tuesday's rally was the comparison with the estimated 1,500 people who turned out to a North rally in Roanoke on Sunday afternoon.
Many Democrats groused that many of those at the North rally weren't from the Roanoke Valley.
"Ten days before the election," declared Roanoke Mayor David Bowers, "the only way he can get 1,000 people is if he buses them in from Lynchburg," perhaps using "Lynchburg" as a euphemism for Jerry Falwell's Liberty University.
Roanoke County party activist Betty Hosp was even more direct. "They were probably exhorted by their Pharisee preachers and bused in," she said. "They call up Jerry Falwell and he says, ``How many do you need?'''
Actually, of those North supporters interviewed at random, all but a handful were from the Roanoke Valley. Roger Jarrell, a Republican field worker who helped organize the North rally, said he knew of only 30 students from Liberty University who came to help decorate the building beforehand - and no buses.
Compared with what North drew on Sunday, Jarrell said, the turnout for Robb was "anemic and pathetic."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB