ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 1, 1996 TAG: 9611010031
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: WARREN FISKE STAFF WRITER
U.S. Sen. John Warner's on-again, off-again relationship with the Christian Coalition appears to be on again during the closing days of the Senate campaign.
The group's voter guides show the Republican incumbent in agreement with the coalition on five of six campaign issues.
That's a huge change from the spring, when the Chesapeake-based group's founder, Pat Robertson, personally supported Warner's opponent in the GOP primary. A voter guide then showed Warner in agreement with the group on only two of 10 issues.
That was a huge change from January, when the group put out a congressional scorecard lauding Warner for a 1995 voting record that supported its positions 100 percent of the time.
The latest go-round has renewed debate over the coalition's claims that it is a nonpartisan public interest group that does not endorse candidates. The federal government sued the coalition last summer, saying the organization is little more than a ex-officio right-wing arm of the Republican Party.
Coalition spokesman Mike Russell said the 1.5 million guides to be distributed in churches across Virginia on Sunday are education tools that highlight differences between candidates. He dismissed as "not legitimate" assertions that the coalition manipulated its guide to hurt Warner last spring and to help him this fall.
While John Warner is sitting pretty in the latest voter guide, his opponent - Democrat Mark Warner - appears in an unfavorable light. He is credited for supporting the coalition on only two of six issues listed.
Even John Warner's campaign spokesman says he is perplexed by his boss' roller coaster ratings by the group. "I don't know how to explain it," Eric Peterson said. "The senator has always been consistent. I guess the coalition has its own ways."
State Democratic Party Chairwoman Sue Wrenn is more direct. "By cynically manipulating semantics to get the desired outcome, they've turned John Warner from a devil in the primary to a saint in the general election," she said.
The coalition is poised to distribute an unprecedented 45 million guides across the nation Sunday, assessing candidates' positions in every congressional race.
Critics, such as Mark Rozell, an American University political scientist who recently wrote a book on the religious right, said the Virginia guide shows how the coalition really works.
"Everyone knows they manipulate the guide to make their favored candidates look good to an evangelical constituency," Rozell said. "It's darn near disingenuous for them to put out these guides and claim to be nonpartisan."
The biggest change between the guide last spring and the one this fall is the issues the coalition used to rate Warner.
Gone are five issues from the June guide on which Warner either remained silent or took positions that were contrary to the coalition's views: an anti-abortion amendment, voluntary prayer in school, abolition of the Department of Education, distribution of condoms in public schools, and a ban of federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.
Those issues, however, can be found on guides for other congressional races in Virginia.
Restricting abortion is a key issue to many voters. In lieu of the anti-abortion amendment, the coalition listed Warner's vote this summer for a ban on late-term "partial-birth" abortions - a position that many anti-abortion Democrats shared.
The coalition also gave Warner credit for opposing federally funded abortions, even though he has voted inconsistently on the matter throughout his 18-year Senate career. This spring, the coalition gave Warner a "no response" rating on the issue, saying he declined to answer a questionnaire the group sent out.
Warner still hasn't answered the questionnaire, and his spokesman, Peterson, is at a loss to explain how the coalition arrived at its new rating.
The coalition's Russell said the information came from votes and statements Warner has made this year.
He defended the selection of different issues in the fall guide. "The purpose of the voter guide is to showcase differences between the two candidates," he said, "and we do that by picking issues that they disagree on."
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESSby CNB