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

DATE: MONDAY, July 24, 1995                   TAG: 9507240121
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IF MONEY HAD THE FINAL WORD, BELL WOULD BE IT

Only a little more than three months before November's elections, the Republican incumbent's campaign war chest dwarfs the Democratic challenger's.

Bell has amassed more than $126,000 toward re-election and still has $104,000 on hand, according to campaign finance reports filed last week.

Edwards, by contrast, has raised just over $34,000 and has just over $18,400 in the bank.

Bell also is raising money at a faster rate than Edwards. In June alone, Bell raised more than $32,000; Edwards took in $6,670.

Aside from the fact that it's generally easier for incumbents than challengers to raise money, Edwards' campaign manager, Harry Carver, said the vice mayor didn't hold any fund-raisers last month.

Three are scheduled in upcoming weeks. Carver said Edwards doesn't have to match Bell dollar for dollar, but that he'll need ``well over $100,000 from here on out, if [we're] going to be competitive.''

Bell had a major fund-raiser in Richmond last month, and it shows. Of the $32,000 he pulled in last month, $14,300 came from outside his district. Bell's report is littered with contributions from political action committees and fellow GOP senators who are unchallenged in the election. Nearly half of Edwards' June contributions came from outside the district.

And Bell's attack on the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association hasn't hurt his standing among all lawyers. William Poff, a longtime Republican supporter who is one of the commonwealth's foremost trial lawyers and a VTLA past president, chipped in $250 just three days after Bell launched an attack on Edwards for seeking support from the VTLA.

By contrast, Edwards pulled in a $1,000 check from the VTLA 10 days after Bell criticized the organization. Carver said that was a coincidence, that the money had been promised to Edwards before Bell made the trial lawyers a campaign issue.

In addition to the mismatch in fund raising between Bell and Edwards, there are some other noteworthy comparisons from the latest finance reports:

Republican challenger Trixie Averill has almost as much money in the bank as her opponent, House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell of Roanoke County. Cranwell apparently took it easy on the fund-raising circuit in June, while money continued to pour into Averill's coffers from prominent Republican contributors around the state.

Averill led Gov. George Allen's campaign in Western Virginia in 1993 and has close ties to other GOP figures statewide.

Three legislative campaigns in Western Virginia aren't doing much of anything, at least when it comes to fund raising.

Democrat Barbara Coleman, who's opposing Republican Steve Newman for an open state Senate seat that includes Bedford County, and Republican Jeff Artis, who's challenging Democratic Del. Vic Thomas in Roanoke, have barely gotten started on their fund-raising efforts.

Meanwhile, Democrat Claude Whitehead, who's challenging Republican Del. Allen Dudley for a seat that includes Floyd and Franklin counties, has raised only $750. But Whitehead remains in better shape financially, because he has lent his campaign $25,000.

Staff writers Richard Foster, Sarah Huntley, Todd Jackson, Kim Martin and Dwayne Yancey contributed to this report.

Keywords:
POLITICS