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

DATE: SUNDAY, June 18, 1995                   TAG: 9506200056
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WHEN THE CURTAIN OPENS, DON'T BE A SPECTATOR

A lot of times, though, it may not seem that way.

Too often, citizens are treated as if they were merely passive spectactors to the campaign, the targets of campaign ads designed to sway them one way or another, rather than as active participants in shaping the campaign's agenda.

We're committed to helping change that.

During the 1993 governor's race and the 1994 U.S. Senate race, we provided a forum through which citizens should pose questions to the candidates for statewide office - and we'd track down the candidates on the readers' behalf, and publish their answers.

This year, Virginia faces what could be an historic election for the General Assembly. All 140 seats will be on the ballot. And for the first time in more than a century, the question of which party controls the state legislature hangs in the balance.

Who will set the agenda for what the candidates this year talk about, the campaign consultants or the citizens?

Here's the citizens' chance.

Once again, the Roanoke Times & World-News is offering a way by which citizens can directly question the candidates for the General Assembly.

In today's Horizon section, there's a complete list of candidates in our region. There's also a form readers can fill out and send in to us about which issues they'd like to see the candidates address and which questions they'd like to see them answer.

But that's not all.

In the coming weeks, we'll be presenting other ways citizens can participate in identifying the issues they'd like the candidates to talk about - in developing, in short, a citizen's agenda.

The idea is, if the citizens spend some time this summer talking about what matters to them, perhaps this fall the candidates will, too.