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

DATE: TUESDAY, September 26, 1995                   TAG: 9509260043
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WARNER'S PITCH MAY PATCH UP RIFT

U.S. Sen. John Warner, whose refusal to back Republican Party candidates in the past earned him powerful enemies in his own party, made a statewide pitch for the GOP Monday.

Warner is paying for a 60-second radio commercial supporting all Republican candidates for the General Assembly in November.

The ad began airing on dozens of stations Monday and will continue for several weeks, at a cost of "tens of thousands of dollars," said Warner campaign spokeswoman Joy Wilson.

The commercial is Warner's broadest attempt yet to patch up the rift with Virginia Republicans. He is running for re-election in 1996 despite open hostility from many party leaders.

A year ago, Warner was calling his fellow Republicans misguided and their choice for Senate, Oliver North, a dangerous extremist.

In 1993, Warner angered party leaders when he refused to support their choice for lieutenant governor, conservative home schooling advocate Mike Farris.

As his ads hit the air Monday morning, Warner was munching breakfast alongside Farris at a joint fund-raiser for Republican candidates in Loudoun County.

``He is trying to show his Republican colors,'' said David Johnson, executive director of the Virginia Republican Party. ``He's got a lot of fences to mend.''

The ad touts Gov. George Allen's welfare overhaul and appeals to Virginians to elect a Republican majority to the General Assembly for the first time since Reconstruction.

The ad fulfills a pledge Warner made last April, when former President Bush appeared on his behalf at a $100,000 fund-raising dinner. At the time, Warner promised to donate half the proceeds to Republican efforts to win General Assembly seats.

Warner, who is seeking his fourth term, has also crisscrossed the state this summer speaking on behalf of Republican General Assembly candidates.

On Monday, he appeared in Franklin County with Del. Allen Dudley, R-Rocky Mount, and headlined a Roanoke fund-raiser on behalf of Jeff Artis, who is challenging Del. Victor Thomas, D-Roanoke.

The state party has not encouraged Warner's effort on behalf of legislative candidates, but isn't telling him to get lost, either.

``To the extent that John Warner wants to get out and actually support Republicans, we find it refreshing and wonderful,'' party director Johnson said.

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB