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

DATE: SATURDAY, December 3, 1994                   TAG: 9412050039
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHANTILLY                                  LENGTH: Medium

NORTH'S '96 PLANS TO AIR ON TALK SHOW

Republican Oliver North, who lost a Senate bid last month, will announce on national television next week whether he will seek office again in 1996, his aides said.

North told his top campaign workers that he will talk about his political plans on CNN's ``Larry King Live'' call-in talk show Wednesday night.

``The gist was: `It's where I announced my candidacy the first time, and it's where I will part the veil for 1996,''' said Mark Goodin, a senior campaign adviser.

Goodin hinted broadly that North looks like a man ready to seek office again.

``He enjoys being a candidate,'' Goodin told WVEC-TV of Norfolk in an interview. ``So it would not surprise me if he decided to run.''

But the half-dozen North aides present at a meeting Thursday were divided on whether the Iran-Contra figure should run in the next election cycle.

North spent about $20 million in his failed bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Charles Robb. Virginia's other senator, Republican John Warner, is running for a fourth term in 1996.

Warner has drawn the ire of state GOP activists because he refused to back Christian conservative Mike Farris for lieutenant governor in 1993 and this year supported independent Marshall Coleman instead of North.

Farris said this week that he would not run for Warner's seat. Former Reagan administration budget chief Jim Miller, who lost the GOP Senate nomination to North, has said he may challenge Warner.

``The departure of Mike Farris from the '96 race made it imperative that Ollie go public with his plans for '96,'' said Mark Merritt, North's campaign spokesman.

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB