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

DATE: MONDAY, July 17, 1995                   TAG: 9507170110
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

POLITICS CAN'T STAND IN THE WAY OF FRIENDSHIP

What, you say? How could that be? This is the year when Democrats and Republicans are lining up for the mother of all state political battles to see who gets control of the legislature.

But take a look at state Sen. Virgil Goode, D-Rocky Mount, and Del. Allen Dudley, R-Rocky Mount.

The two were friends in high school, both members of Franklin County High School's graduating class of 1965. They were were the keynote speakers at the high school's graduation this year.

"We've got a mutual respect for one another," said Dudley.

Dudley and Goode have also been spotted together several times over the past few weeks at scheduled functions.

Dudley wouldn't go as far to say that they were campaign stops, preferring to chalk the joint appearances up to his and Goode's General Assembly duties. But Dudley did say he was handing out bumper stickers at a stop in Floyd County while Goode was handing out matchbooks on the other side of the street.

And their attitude hasn't gone unnoticed.

Dale Gallimore, a jack-of-all-trades at WGFC-AM, a radio station in Floyd, asked Goode and Dudley to stop by to discuss a few things on the air. He expected one of the candidates would go first, and the other would wait.

But Goode and Dudley sat down and talked shop together, Gallimore said.

"I've never heard one say a bad thing about the other," he said. "But this is the country, and this is just a good ol' country radio station, and that brings out the best in all of us."

Goode is running unopposed, and Dudley is being challenged by Democrat Claude Whitehead of Pittsylvania County.

Goode isn't ignoring Whitehead. He's showed up at a couple of party functions, including the announcement of Whitehead's candidacy in Rocky Mount on April 25.

Whitehead said he hasn't given much thought to Dudley and Goode's friendship, and expects that Goode will help him as the campaign season progresses.

Franklin County Democratic Party Chairman Eric Ferguson said he's heard grumbling from party members about Goode's association with Dudley, but also said: "I wouldn't read that much into it at this point. It's early and there's a long way to go before November."

Sen. Warner is a $1 million man

The 1996 Senate race is well under way, at least on the fund-raising front.

Sen. John Warner has raised more than $1 million for his 1996 re-election campaign, including $850,000 contributed since Jan. 1, his campaign staff said last week.

Warner has raised $1,032,141 as of June 30 and, after expenses, still has $702,000 on hand.

Former federal budget director Jim Miller, his only declared rival for the Republican nomination, lags behind. Miller estimated his campaign has raised more than $200,000 since he got into the race in February. Of that, he's got about $140,000 in hand.

Miller voiced satisfaction with his own pace of fund raising, "despite getting a late start." He also said that while he has agreed "to postpone full-bore campaign activity" until after the fall General Assembly elections, "Warner has been fund-raising at a desperate clip."

Campaign spending and contribution reports for the first six months of 1995 are due July 31 at the Federal Election Commission, but Warner disclosed early estimates.

Warner has been branded a traitor by some GOP activists because he refused to support two Republican nominees strongly backed by conservatives - Oliver North in last year's Senate race and Mike Farris in the 1993 race for lieutenant governor. Both lost.

Nevertheless, some big-name Republicans have been coming to his aid. Former President Bush headlined an event for him earlier this year, and former U.S. Sen. Paul Laxalt of Nevada will hold a fund-raising barbecue for Warner on Sept. 17 at his McLean home.

Warner said the prospect of a primary fight for the Republican nomination isn't the only reason he has placed so much emphasis on fund-raising. There's also the chance that the Democratic candidate next year will be former state Democratic Party chairman Mark Warner, a multimillionaire telecommunications entrepreneur from Alexandria.

Given Mark Warner's past fund-raising ability and personal wealth, ``that is a formidable opponent from a financial standpoint,'' Sen. Warner said.

Staff writer Dwayne Yancey and the Associated Press also contributed to this report.

Keywords:
POLITICS