ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 30, 1996 TAG: 9610300068
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITER
Democratic Senate candidate Mark Warner campaigns as an information-age visionary, but his final burst of electioneering relies on a traditional, low-tech political tool: the U.S. Mail.
Warner's opponent, Republican Sen. John Warner, does not expect to use direct mail as the campaign draws to a close, his representatives said.
Two pieces of Mark Warner's mail literature - one already in Virginia mailboxes, the other poised for release - have made it into the hands of John Warner's supporters. And they held a news conference Tuesday hoping to head off the Democrat's message.
At issue was a one-page folded brochure that Mark Warner's campaign spokesman said might never be mailed.
It reads: ``Most Virginia families can't afford nursing home care. Now, John Warner has a solution. Sell your house.Senator John Warner voted to cut Medicaid which could make seniors sell the family home!''
The effect that Republican spending plans, which John Warner supported, would have on senior citizens is not a new issue in this year's Senate contest. The GOP's proposals to trim $270 billion from Medicare and $163 billion from Medicaid have fueled Democratic criticism around the country.
The Democrats, too, call for cuts in spending, although in smaller doses. Both parties want a commission to study financing for senior health care, calling the budget forecasts too fickle to grasp.
But the Republican plan, which President Clinton vetoed, would have lifted a federal restriction that keeps states from making relatives pay nursing home costs. In other words, the would-be mailing maintains, people could be forced to sell their houses.
Members of the 60 Plus Association, a senior lobbying group, lashed out against the brochure in Richmond. That drew more criticism from Mark Warner's campaign, because of the group's close ties to another seniors organization, the Seniors Coalition, with a history of fraud accusations.
``This organization has been under investigation by at least two U.S. attorneys for defrauding senior citizens,'' Eric Hoffman, Mark Warner's spokesman, said. ``Is there nothing John Warner won't stoop to hold onto his Senate seat and not talk about the issues?''
But John Warner, campaigning in Richmond Tuesday, said of the advertisement: ``No one's going to lose a home, and everyone knows it. That's nonsense.''
LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESSby CNB