Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 5, 1994 TAG: 9411070048
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARGARET EDDS and ALEC KLEIN STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
North was the one campaigning as if protecting a lead, though, playing it safe by avoiding fumbles, ducking the media and jabbing at President Clinton.
Robb, at a stop in Tappahannock, said he had faith in his own instincts to carry him through Election Day.
"I have a sense of timing and ultimately I'm going to succeed or fail based on my own sense of what to do and when to do it.
"I was never a sprinter. In track, I was a distance man," said Robb as he paused for a fast-food hamburger during a day spent campaigning in two areas critical to his campaign - Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia.
Under questioning by reporters, Robb turned slightly reflective on a re-election bid in which he has taken a minuscule lead, according to polls.
He discounted speculation that there is "stealth" vote waiting to propel North to victory, and said it is just as likely that Republicans who have publicly endorsed independent Marshall Coleman will vote for him.
"I have never been involved in an election where so many people have said, 'If you don't win, I'm moving out of Virginia,''' Robb said.
Stressing that he prefers "to sort out all the arrows and darts after the election," Robb agreed that Wilder's aid in rallying black voters has been "an important factor." The nation's first elected black governor, Wilder rallied to Robb two weeks ago after months of trashing him.
"I have to give Ollie North credit. I have to give Nancy Reagan credit," Robb said. "... I'm prepared to let anybodytake credit as long as we get a victory."
Reagan recently accused North of lying to President Reagan. At a joint appearance in Newport News, federal Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary - who grew up in that city - accused North of fostering divisiveness.
"We don't want someone to go to the Senate and fight ... We are not at war," she said. "We're sick of the ugliness. We are people of character."
Repeatedly, as he shook hands in Newport News and Gloucester, Robb told well-wishers: "If you're going to surge at any time during a campaign, I can't think of a better time than the last few days." He cautioned against overconfidence, quipping that about $1.5 million of North's $18 million war chest is still unaccounted for and may be spent on get-out-the-vote efforts.
North spent most of Friday calm and cool, sticking to a low key strategy that seemed designed not to make any last-minute headlines.
The Republican candidate had a great deal of quiet time, spending the afternoon interviewing on radio station WNOR, attending to paperwork at the Greenbrier Holiday Inn and gladhanding shoppers in an unscheduled stop at a Chesapeake Wal-Mart.
North, however, was forced deep in his own territory at an evening appearance at the Philippino Cultural Center in Virginia Beach. Yet again, he was asked about his role in trading arms for hostages and diverting funds to rebels in Nicaragua during the mid-1980s.
"I happen to take the word 'commitment' very seriously," he told the crowd of more than 40 in Kempsville. "I made a commitment to my family, my wife, my children, my country. I went to the White House under orders as a U.S. Marine and carried out the orders I was given. In doing so, I put my own life at risk, put my family at risk and jeopardized what had been a pretty good career in the military. I didn't do any of that for my own personal pleasure or my own gratification, and my motive throughout was to save the lives of other people .''
The Republican candidate also took the president to task over what North called a "dangerous" agreement with North Korea on nuclear weapons.
"What that agreement will end up doing is denying us access to inspect the [nuclear] facilities they do have," he said. "... In my humble opinion, it is a bad agreement... I think it's typical of the ambivalent, vacillating and ineffective foreign policy in this administration."
Earlier, North did much of the same, ridiculing Robb and Clinton at a Norfolk news conference.
Robb has "spent the last several years doing nothing more than trying to cover his own tracks," North said. "He's tried to cover his tracks down here in Tidewater, where his shocking personal indiscretions read like tawdry copy from a cheap pulp novel. ... And now he's trying to cover up his abandonment of our national defense and the men and women who serve in our armed forces."
Brandishing a broom, North said, "I've got a better way for Chuck Robb to cover his tracks. Take this broom, fasten it to your belt loop, put it behind you and drag it out of town behind you after you finish this term. Chuck, if you don't want to use the broom now, leave it for me. I'll use it to clear up the big mess you left behind."
Independent candidate Marshall Coleman spent Friday touring with his biggest supporter, U.S. Sen. John Warner, and hammering the message that Virginians must not consider a vote for Coleman to be a wasted vote.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB