Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 6, 1994 TAG: 9411070055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER AND TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Call it Beyer/Farris: The Rematch.
The race between Democratic Rep. L.F. Payne and Republican challenger George Landrith is more than just a battle for a congressional seat. It's also a clash of wills and viewpoints between two political operatives who faced each other just a year ago and are now applying some of the lessons they learned from that campaign to their 5th District showdown.
Linda Moore, Payne's campaign manager, was campaign manager for Lt. Gov. Don Beyer's re-election bid in 1993. Dimitri Kesari, Landrith's campaign manager, was the 5th District field representative for Beyer's opponent, home-schooling advocate Mike Farris of Loudoun County.
Farris lost the statewide election, largely because of what many perceived as a strong attack campaign orchestrated by Moore that painted Farris as a radical extremist. But in the 5th District, where Kesari said he worked hard to stoke the fires of social conservatives, Farris won by a small margin.
At last year's Republican convention in Richmond, Landrith was one of three people who gave nomination speeches for Farris; he also served as a surrogate speaker for Farris on the campaign trail. When Landrith was considering his decision to run against Payne, he sought out Farris for advice.
"I didn't push him into a decision," Farris said. "But I told him a year ago that he had a future in Republican politics. George is very smart, and he has great principles. He understands average people, because he is one. I think a lot of him."
Farris spent time in recent weeks stumping for Landrith, and he recorded a radio ad for the 5th District challenger. Landrith is also employing the same campaign consultant Farris used.
Many observers also find parallels in the tactics used in this year's House race and those employed in the Beyer/Farris contest.
"We see that same pattern in the 5th race that was very negative about Mike Farris," Virginia Tech political analyst Bob Denton said. "I was very disappointed by the tone of Beyer's campaign. There were personal, vicious attacks. It was more about Mike Farris than Don Beyer, who had a record, who had things he could talk about."
During the Beyer/Farris race, a Beyer ad told voters that Mike Farris worked for the Rev. Jerry Falwell in 1980 as president of the Moral Majority in Washington state. It also tied Farris to the Rev. Pat Robertson's ill-fated 1988 try for the Republican nomination for President.
Likewise, Payne's radio and television ads focus less on his accomplishments in Congress and instead criticize Landrith as an outsider who has lived in the 5th for only a short time. The congressman's ads make Landrith out to be a liar and an extremist.
The challenger is expected to attack. Why has Payne, who is an incumbent with more money and resources at his command, been so aggressive?
"It is a down-and-dirty race," University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato said. "The mood is ugly. Campaigning is becoming a very crude business just about everywhere."
With voter sentiment running against incumbents and with the 5th being a conservative district, Sabato said, "A Democrat running in the 5th District this year would be crazy not to fight hard."
He said there was a possibility that the same wave that put Farris ahead in the 5th could sweep Payne from office Nov.8 Tuesday. But he also noted that Beyer, who hails from Northern Virginia, had few ties to the 5th, while Payne can count on a hometown vote.
Denton said Moore has a history of running aggressive campaigns when the race demands it. "Some people say the best defense is a hellacious offense, and maybe her strategy is: You can never score enough points."
Don Dominique, Farris' campaign manager in the 1993 race, said, "I would characterize Linda Moore this way: She's a committed liberal who's committed to winning her races no matter what. I say that because Don Beyer knew some of the things he was saying about Mike were inaccurate, but they wanted to make Mike look like a scary person."
Farris himself said: "Some of the same tactics [Moore used in the Beyer campaign] are being used in the 5th District race. It's a God-fearing group of people in the 5th. I certainly hope it backfires."
Farris said Moore "has been involved in reprehensible techniques that have been widely condemned."
Moore, 48, has been involved in Virginia Democratic politics for more than 20 years.
She worked her way up from being a volunteer to holding key positions in state elections. Her stock rose considerably in the Democratic Party when she pulled together a surprising grass-roots delegation in 1989 that gave a virtually unknown Beyer the nomination for lieutenant governor.
"Linda has the best political judgment in the state," Beyer said. "She is fiscally conservative, pro-family and pro-jobs."
Political analysts and members of the Democratic Party say Beyer's 1993 race against Farris was the race that defined Moore's career and gave her a reputation for being an aggressive strategist when necessary.
Moore said "there's not a lot of parallels" between the 1993 race and this one. However, "I think George Landrith enjoys a lot of the same support that Farris did."
Kesari, Landrith's campaign manager, acknowledges there are similarities between Payne and Landrith and Beyer and Farris. "George is a good, decent, upright person, and L.F. is a liberal who flip-flops all over the place."
Kesari, 28, has a degree in economics and cut his political teeth in Loudoun County politics before working for Farris.
"We're talking about the issues," he said. "Everything we've said we've backed up with evidence, data, a vote, a congressional record. I don't consider that down and dirty.
"Talking about people's religious beliefs, that's down and dirty."
Kesari says he was unaware Moore was working on the Payne campaign until he heard about a telephone poll authorized by the Payne camp in which voters were told that Landrith is a Mormon. It's a similar tactic to revealing Farris's religious affiliations, he says. "It's religious bigotry, it's playing on emotional scare tactics."
"Was that religious bigotry?" Moore said. "No. It seems religious bigotry is a code word on the part of people in the religious right. They try to yell it every time they can.
"Every time Don would make a comment in a debate about the extreme positions Mike Farris held, they called it religious bigotry," Moore said. "But when you have extreme positions on education, choice and women's rights, then that's fair game."
At the time the telephone poll was taken, she said, Landrith's religion "was part of a biographical sketch of who he was. It wasn't us that took it public across the district.
"Frankly, I don't know why he left it off his resume, other than the fact that this is tobacco country and there are some restraints within his faith dealing with alcohol and tobacco. In hindsight, it was certainly never the intention of L.F. or this campaign to insult Landrith" by telling voters he is a Mormon.
For Moore, who is an active member of her church, Farris and Landrith supporters' use of religion in a political context is been too personal at times. When some say that Payne opposes Christian values because he supports a woman's right to an abortion, Moore is angered.
"Of course L.F. stands for Christian values. Who are they to say he doesn't or I don't or anyone else for that matter? I will not judge [Landrith and Farris supporters]. I have values I live by. I don't think anyone has an edge on Christianity."
Moore says the Landrith campaign is the most mean-spirited she has ever run against. "One thing that disturbs me is the lack of love, the amount of hatred you see in people. It's just really surprising. They speak of Bill Clinton with real hate. That really disturbs me."
In the most negative moment of the campaign, a lamb fetus was left on Payne's doorstep several weeks ago. Landrith condemned the act but later said he wouldn't be surprised if Payne supporters had planted it there.
"I'm surprised he would make such a careless statement," Moore said. She's careful to point out that she doesn't accuse Landrith or his campaign of leaving the fetus, but said of whoever did, "These people have a pro-life agenda, and I guess they justify things like that just like they justify shooting doctors. I don't attempt to understand it."
Moore says she wishes issues had been a bigger part of the campaign. As an example, she says Landrith criticizes Payne for contributing to the biggest tax increase in history by voting for the Clinton deficit reduction package.
"That cut the federal budget by $1 trillion. I want to argue to folks that for the economy of this country, that was an essential measure, even though in the 5th District, 1,200 people in the upper brackets had their taxes raised."
Moore says she is tired of the negative campaigning - from Landrith. "I like politics. I like a race where your candidate has an issue and the opposing candidate has a different view, and you try to convince people your way of doing things is better."
When facing attacks from Landrith, Moore says, it's imperative to fight back.
"You can't allow him to distort L.F.'s record and not be held accountable for his own," she said.
Keywords:
POLIKTICS
by CNB