ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, October 14, 1996 TAG: 9610140107
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MARIETTA, GA.
SOURCE: Associated Press
How's this for a campaign promise: Democrat Michael Coles pledges to become the least popular congressman in Washington.
It's kind of an odd appeal to people already represented by one of the country's least popular politicians, House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
``I am not looking for a career. I want to be the guy who holds a press conference outside on the steps every day and says, `Let me tell you what's really going on inside,''' the wealthy Coles explained at a recent living room get-together with a group of voters.
``I will be the least popular guy there, but I'll be popular in my district.''
Coles, co-founder of the Great American Cookie Co., is spending more than $2 million of his fortune trying to persuade voters to replace Gingrich and his clout with a newcomer seeking the role of outside agitator.
Though Gingrich is defending himself against ethics charges and polls show that his reputation as a partisan fighter has left just one in four Americans with a favorable impression of him, political experts said the Republican should easily win re-election to a 10th term.
``Short of a smoking gun in Newt's hands or an indictment the party linkage is going to be enough for voters in that district,'' said University of Georgia political science Professor Charles Bullock.
Gingrich's own polls show him with a 3-to-1 lead. Coles said his polls show a closer and winnable race. No independent polls have been conducted.
In almost any other district, Coles would be a strong contender. The dark-haired, 5-foot-6, Brooklyn, N.Y., native combines an impressive biography with moderate politics.
In telling the story of how he parlayed an $8,000 investment into a national cookie enterprise with annual sales approaching $100 million, Coles always gets a laugh over his opening day debacle, when the cookies burned and the fire department was called.
Six weeks later, Coles suffered a leg injury in a near-fatal motorcycle accident and was told he would never walk normally again. Coles took over his own recovery on a stationary bike and went on to become a champion bicyclist who set records racing across the continental United States.
Coles, who estimates his net worth at $30 million, has promised to stay in the House only six years, to donate his congressional salary to a scholarship fund and to refuse a congressional pension.
Although he calls himself a Democrat, he's unsure if he'll vote for President Clinton. Coles supports abortion rights but opposes the so-called partial-birth abortion procedure that Clinton wants to keep legal. Coles supports the death penalty. He criticizes Clinton for being unfriendly to business and for wasting time on issues such as gays in the military.
Though Democrats everywhere are aiming attacks at Gingrich this season, the 52-year-old Coles has neither sought nor received help from the national Democratic Party.
``I want to keep this a very local race,'' Coles said. ``I don't want to get tied up in any party.''
Coles began an early television blitz Sept. 3 and he has the money to stay on the air through Election Day, Nov. 5. By contrast, Gingrich aired his first TV ad Tuesday and has spent more time campaigning for other Republicans across the country than for himself.
Coles said he has a stronger link to the district than Gingrich because of his history of financial support of community activities, his commitment to protecting the environment and his business success.
``When you have career politicians who are more interested in getting power, they're not going to look after the district,'' Coles said. ``Newt is out of touch here.''
Coles has mostly steered clear of the ethics probe involving Gingrich, saying other issues are just as important.
Although the district is a Republican stronghold that gave Gingrich 64 percent of the vote in 1994, voters are willing to consider a Democrat.
``Newt Gingrich being speaker of the House doesn't do anything for us,'' said Ross Adams, a Marietta attorney who invited neighbors to his house to hear Coles. ``By not having someone who is speaker of the House, we'll get a better representative for this district.''
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Michael Coles, Democratic challenger for Newtby CNBGingrich's congressional seat, hands out a package of his cookies. KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESS