THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 21, 1994 TAG: 9409210407
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: OTHER VOICES
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
Not since ``Bobbitt'' became a verb has Virginia gotten as much free national publicity as has been generated by this year's U.S. Senate race. The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and the Chicago Tribune all ran stories last week when former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder pulled out of the race. So how is the Land of Jefferson coming across?
The Sept. 19 edition of The New Yorker magazine devotes three pages to a sketchbook on the Virginia race titled ``Politics as Usual?'' It was drawn by Steve Brodner, who spent time traveling with the candidates and depicts each of the four (this was before Wilder quit) talking with average Virginians.
One drawing shows a weak-chinned, pointy-headed Charles S. Robb talking to a heavyset woman. The caption reads: ``Chuck Robb with a dairy farmer's wife at the Orange County Fair: `I'm fifty-five years old, and I don't have to, but I don't pass a meal without drinking the product of your husband's labor.' ''
A line drawing depicts a grinning Oliver L. North standing with a heavyset man holding a drink. The caption is: ``Northern Neck, a stop on the Oliver North bus tour. Supporter: `You got my vote. My wife does not like homosexuals, period. I was on a destroyer four years. We can't have those people on the destroyers.' North: `Can't have 'em on amphibs. Can't have 'em on battleships. There are no private staterooms.' ''
Canadians got a dose of the Old Dominion in the Sept. 17 edition of The Toronto Star, which contained a lengthy story about the race headlined, in part, ``Oh golly, it's Ollie!'' The irreverent article, written by Linda Diebel, begins by describing North's rise to fame in the Iran-Contra hearings and then notes, ``It's seven years later, and Olliemania is back - if, indeed, it ever went away.
``The source of the most recent outburst is the great state of Virginia, a stone's throw across the Potomac from the capital, where the retired and now exceedingly rich lieutenant colonel lives and is running for one of Virginia's two seats in the U.S. Senate. Yes, that's Congress, the same august body that he once so heartily defiled.
``North is the Republican candidate in one of those wonderfully colorful and goofy American political races that seem stranger than fiction.
``His closest rival, Democratic Senator Charles Robb, is best known these days as `Chuckie Cheesecake' after allegations involving women other than his wife; the state's other senator, Republican John Warner, keeps telling people that former felons shouldn't be allowed into Congress; and the Republican hierarchy in Washington has been thrown into a tizzy.
``And, to make matters worse, all this could be a portent of things to come. Virginia has often served as a bellwether state in U.S. politics.''
Hotshot political writer Maureen Dowd weighed in on the race in the Sept. 16 New York Times - on the front page, no less. Dowd set up the contest this way: ``Decorous old Virginia has not been so atwitter since Elizabeth Taylor prowled the 1978 state convention wearing a tiger-striped pants suit, wooing delegates for John Warner, her sixth husband (if you don't count Richard Burton twice).
``This seat of American democracy has long had a reputation as a state where the dullest candidate was assured victory.
``No more.''
The article goes on to characterize the two party candidates by starting with their wives:
``In one corner is Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, comparing the Republican candidate, Oliver L. North, to the Son of Sam, and her husband Senator Robb, who says Mr. North should not be allowed to serve in the same legislative body that once investigated his role in hijacking government policy in the Iran-Contra affair.
``In the other corner is Mr. North, campaigning with his best friend and wife, Betsy, who also answers to her Iran-Contra code name of `Mrs. Belly Button.' Mr. North has no previous political experience, if you don't count a leadership position in the Boy Scouts or secretly taking control of United States foreign policy, but he is a fast learner.''
The comparison of North to a famous serial killer is explained later in the story, when Lynda Robb offers the observation that North ``certainly has outdone Son of Sam in making a fortune on one performance.'' MEMO: Other Voices'' is compiled by Greg Schneider with assistance from staff
researcher Peggy Earle.
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE VIRGINIA CANDIDATES
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