ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, May 17, 1996 TAG: 9605170080
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Republican race for the U.S. Senate nomination is turning nasty.
Almost a month before the June 11 primary, Sen. John Warner and his challenger, Jim Miller, are accusing each other of lies, shady campaigning and - most damning - not being good conservatives.
Miller's supporters gathered Thursday at the state Capitol to denounce what Miller says are radio attack ads by Warner's campaign.
The ads, which started running Monday, attack Miller as a ``Washington bureaucrat'' who ran up the deficit when he was Ronald Reagan's budget director and spent money on his ``lavish government offices.''
The ad continues: ``Jim Miller. A true Virginia conservative? I don't think so.''
``There is just so much that's scurrilous about it,'' said Michael J. Horowitz, general counsel for the Office of Management and Budget when Miller was the director.
Horowitz pointed to graphs that showed the deficit did not increase significantly in Miller's tenure, 1987 to 1989.
Warner's spokesman, Eric Peterson, blamed the exploding deficit after 1989 on policies Miller championed.
``This is simply a statement of fact,'' Peterson said of the ad. ``We're not slandering or calling names.''
Warner outraged the GOP's conservative wing when he refused to support Oliver North's 1994 Senate campaign and Michael Farris' bid for lieutenant governor in 1993. Both Farris and North lost by narrow margins.
``Warner is not a popular incumbent of his party,'' said Virginia Tech communications professor Robert E. Denton Jr. ``The only way that John Warner can win the primary is to motivate people to vote against Miller, so he's got to go negative.''
Warner and his staff on May 8 promised a clean campaign with no mudslinging or attack ads. Their television ad shows a glowing portrait of Warner, hobnobbing with Reagan and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Warner has also accused Miller of misusing funds from a political action committee and called for a Federal Election Commission investigation.
With Warner pulling in three times more money than Miller, the challenger has been forced to rely on direct mailing supporters.
The primary winner will face former Virginia Democratic Party chairman Mark Warner in the Nov. 5 election. The Warners are not related.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESSby CNB