ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 19, 1996 TAG: 9610210042
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RESTON
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITER
This year's U.S. Senate race in Virginia is about jobs, the economy, the future of technology and defense, and strong leadership into the 21st century, both candidates agreed Friday.
But don't forget that business about Mark Warner's head appearing on Chuck Robb's body.
The candidates sure won't. During an hour-long debate Friday, and for another half-hour after, the now 2-week-old flap over John Warner's photograph doctoring stirred the campaign coals like nothing else the Warners or four panelists could concoct.
The strongest rhetoric, the hottest exchange, the funniest joke - all of it stemmed from U.S. Sen. John Warner's controversial commercial that appeared with a faked photograph of Mark Warner, his head planted on Robb's body to look as if he were smiling next to Bill Clinton while shaking hands with former Gov. Douglas Wilder.
The day after the fake was exposed by the press, John Warner apologized, fired the producer, pulled the ad off the air and put the matter behind him. And ever since, wherever the two opponents go, the controversy over the ad is still right behind them.
When Democrat Mark Warner took the stage Friday, he promptly announced, "For those of you who don't know me, this is what I look like when my head is attached to my own body."
"I don't bring it up; Mark Warner continually brings it up," John Warner, the Republican incumbent, said after the debate before the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce.
"It's not me bringing it up; the press keeps asking about it," Mark Warner had said only moments earlier.
Both Warners are impeccably polite, even to each other, whenever they appear in public. And when they're not talking about phantom photos, they can be rather amicable fellows.
They call for balancing the federal budget, and would support constitutional amendments making it mandatory. Mark Warner might pare defense spending a little while John Warner routinely calls for defense expansion, but both call fiscal management a top priority.
During the debate, Mark Warner criticized John Warner for a vote that cut money from federal student loans, but both men call the program vital to American education and credit it for their own successful careers.
Neither wanted the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco, and both said they want to reform the federal laws governing financing of political campaigns. They finance their campaigns different ways - Mark Warner with his own money, John Warner with money from political action committees - but both are millionaires, and each questions the finances of the other.
They agree on most foreign affairs. And both agreed that whether or not they've tried marijuana - John says he never has and Mark says he did in college but calls it a mistake - isn't an issue at all.
The two Warners will debate another time before the Nov. 5 election, before a group of NAACP members in Virginia Beach on Nov.1.
The Warners each said the election boils down to one question, though they don't agree what it is.
"The voters should ask themselves who has the experience to handle the job," said John Warner, 69, seeking his fourth term in the Senate.
"The question people should answer is whether John Warner's opposition of Ollie North is enough to excuse his record. I say it is not," Mark Warner said.
But Friday's exchange begged another question that will be answered in the coming weeks: How long will everyone keep talking about that fake photograph?
"I think it probably, in his mind, is an issue he can win on," said John Warner, who leads by double digits in all published polls. "I think Virginia voters have heard enough about this - they understand what happened and can make their own decisions."
"Look at the overall campaign and the attacks he's made. Is he calling me dirty and stupid?" Mark Warner asked. "That kind of attack is something the voters see through. It's something they should look at."
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. U.S. Sen. Charles Robb (left) talks to U.S. Sen.by CNBJohn Warner (right) as Mark Warner looks on in Reston on Friday.
color. KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESS