Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 9, 1994 TAG: 9411090101
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: MCLEAN LENGTH: Long
The race was neck-and-neck until the last days of the campaign, when former first lady Nancy Reagan denounced North as a liar and the candidate blundered by attacking Social Security during an appearance at a nursing home.
With 97 percent of the precincts reporting in a race that commanded national attention, Robb had 46 percent of the vote to North's 43 percent. Independent Marshall Coleman got 11 percent of the vote.
Robb's win was an important victory for President Clinton and the Democratic Party, which was struggling to maintain control of the Senate.
Analysts said neither candidate could take much pride in the results.
``It was hold your nose and vote for the one who you dislike less,'' said John McGlennon, a political scientist at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. ``Stick that clothespin on and pull the lever.''
Key to Robb's success was the turnout of black voters, whose support of Robb soared after his longtime Democratic nemesis, former Gov. Douglas Wilder, stopped attacking him and started campaigning for him during the last weeks of the campaign.
``Doug Wilder has finally delivered for him,'' said political scientist Mark Rozell of Mary Washington College. ``But a Robb victory does not change his scandalous past. More than anything else, I see the results as a rejection of Oliver North. Robb could not have won re-election without opposing a controversial, scandal-tainted nominee like Mr. North.''
Many Virginians were unenthusiastic about the candidates put forward by the major political parties.
As an aide to President Reagan, North ran the illegal Iran-Contra operation and was convicted of shredding classified documents, accepting illegal gratuities and lying to congressional investigating committees. That conviction was overturned on a technicality.
Robb, once a highly regarded governor, tarnished his reputation through admitted extramarital dalliances and other questionable behavior. After Virginians gave him 71 percent of the vote last time around, their affection for the son-in-law of former President Johnson dwindled steadily.
``These are the two most unpopular party nominees in this state's history,'' said Larry Sabato, professor of government at the University of Virginia. ``It's an embarrassment. Virginia is very sensitive about it.''
Mark Rozell, a political scientist at Virginia's Mary Washington College, called the result a rejection of North rather than an endorsement of Robb. ``Robb was the devil they knew,'' Rozell said, ``but Oliver North was just too dangerous for most Virginia voters.''
Voters expressed precisely the same sentiments. ``Robb's the lesser of two evils,'' said Monika Talwar, 24, an information specialist for the U.S. Agency for International Development. ``I think Robb's a sleaze. The stories about his character concerned me. But I'm more concerned in seeing North defeated. Basically, I'm strongly anti-North, and I thought this was one election where my vote could make a difference.''
``I don't like the choice,'' said Larry Pulliam, who wore his U.S. Air Force uniform to his Northern Virginia polling place. ``One guy was convicted for Iran-Contra; the other was seen at drug parties when he was governor. If there were a none-of-the-above, I'd probably vote for him.''
North's tormentors included some prominent Republicans. Reagan expressed his indignation at North's campaign in a letter published early in the election season. And just 10 days before the election, Reagan's wife, Nancy, denounced the man who had once worked for her husband.
``I know Ollie North has a great deal of trouble separating fact from fantasy,'' she said. ``And he lied to my husband and lied about my husband.''
``The attack from Nancy Reagan really did hurt him, mostly among Republicans and especially Republican women,'' Sabato said.
Within the state, John Warner, Virginia's senior senator and longest-serving GOP officeholder, led the Republican opposition to North. He argued that, even though it was overturned on a technicality, North's 1989 conviction in the Iran-Contra scandal made him ``unfit'' for public service.
The denunciations by the Reagans and Warner helped doom North even though he was endorsed by former Vice President Dan Quayle and Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., arguably the most influential Republican of them all.
While North received widespread kudos for an aggressive, effective campaign, he sabotaged himself, according to Virginia political analysts, by suggesting at a senior citizens home in Vinton that in the future workers should be able to opt out of paying Social Security.
by CNB