THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 3, 1994 TAG: 9410030047
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Compiled by staff writers Dwayne Yancey and Alec Klein.
LENGTH: Long : 128 lines
The kid gloves are off
Democrats are trying to call attention to Republican Oliver L.North's mental breakdown in the early 1970s by demanding he follow Sen. Charles Robb's lead and release his military medical records.
On Friday, prominent Democratic activists - who also happen to be Vietnam combat veterans - held news conferences in Roanoke and Virginia Beach to step up the drumbeat.
In Roanoke, Richard O'Dell, the former head of the Virginia Department of Veterans Affairs and the author of two self-help books aimed at Vietnam vets, did the honors.
He said North's mental health ``should be an issue for a public servant.'' North has said his breakdown in 1974 was a delayed reaction to combat stress, which brought on domestic difficulties. ``Public service is stressful, too,'' O'Dell said. ``We ought to know how he responds to pressure.''
O'Dell said voters also had a right to know why North, a Naval Academy graduate who was ``educated at taxpayer expense and pursued a military career,'' never commanded troops after he returned from Vietnam. ``Why was an Annapolis grad not fit for command?''
O'Dell hinted that Friday's blast was the first of many to come in the campaign's final weeks. ``I haven't thrown hand grenades since '69. This is going to be fun,'' he said.
As for North, spokesman Mark Merritt cried foul. ``This is an incredibly low blow by Chuck Robb. He knows Ollie came forward and sought marital counseling.
``If Chuck Robb is going to make that an issue, shame on him.''
Present without leave
It's all in the timing.
North held a brief news conference last week on the property of Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach before base security could run him off.
``We got there a little late,'' explained Oceana spokesman Troy Snead.
A week earlier, a North aide had called Oceana for permission for the Republican U.S. Senate candidate to stump at the installation's front gates.
Permission denied.
``A week ago, I gave them the U.S. Defense Department policy: We don't do this,'' Snead recalled. ``They said, `OK, thanks.' ''
A week later, he said, ``The next thing I know, they're at the back gate.''
Security alerted Snead that North was talking with local television cameras on military property in front of a sign that read: ``Naval Air Station Oceana Master Jet Base.''
Trespassing charges were not lodged. ``It happened,'' Snead said. ``It's done.''
Vice presidential humor
Every politician needs to know at least one joke. If you're vice president, it helps to know a bunch. If they're about yourself, all the better.
Vice President Al Gore warmed up a Roanoke audience Friday with a series of jokes poking fun at how stiff and wooden he is reputed to be. Many of them also managed to work in references to his recent ankle injury while playing basketball:
A sampling:
The cast on his ankle will come off soon. ``I'll have to wear the old body cast for several more years.''
``When the doctors opened up my leg, they were shocked to find termites.''
``I was under anesthesia for about 90 minutes, although the doctors had trouble telling the difference.''
``Al Gore is so boring his Secret Service code name is. . . Al Gore.''
``Al Gore is an inspiration to millions of people suffering from . . . Dutch Elm disease.''
Inflated credentials
Democrats on the campaign trail this fall are complaining that the Clinton administration isn't getting the attention it deserves for holding down inflation.
However, Robb's Senate campaign is stoking inflation of another sort. When Robb toured the Roanoke Valley with House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell in early September, the official schedule listed his escort as ``Speaker Cranwell.''
Any way you slice it
Democrats said a cake was a dumb symbol for North to use last week to mock what he called the ``shotgun wedding'' between Robb and former Democratic Gov. L. Douglas Wilder.
``The last time Ollie had a cake, he took it to the Ayatollah,'' said David Doak, media consultant to Robb.
Doak was referring to the infamous cake that North carried with him to Tehran in May 1986 as a token of friendship to the Iranians, who claimed they could gain the release of American hostages in Lebanon in exchange for U.S. arms.
The trip was a flop, but it did not dampen North's enthusiasm for arms deals with Iran, because the White House official was secretly diverting profits from the arms sales to anti-communist rebels in Nicaragua.
Democratic targets
Three-year-old Seth Taylor of Vinton was among the 200 or so gun lovers who turned out Saturday at Buffalo Creek Sporting Club in Bedford County to hear North talk about freedom and blast clay pigeons with a double-barrel shotgun.
Seth toted a toy shotgun and knew how to use it.
``Tell Mr. North what we shoot at Buffalo Creek,'' prompted Doris Rigdon, the tot's grandmother.
``Clay pigeons and Democrats,'' Seth beamed.
Taking stock of candidates
Forget the polls. Let's check in on the University of Iowa's political stock market, where political junkies from around the world can plug in via the Internet to buy and sell ``shares'' in various political candidates, based on how much of the vote they're expected to get in November.
Trading continues to be heavy, with Robb's stock losing the most ground and North continuing to gain value. Just as in the opinion polls, North holds a slight edge in the stock market, too.
Here, in Dow Jones fashion, is what the latest odds are on the 'net, for the week running from Friday, Sept. 23 to Thursday, Sept. 29:
North, up 0.8 percent, to 43.9 percent.
Robb, down 2.1 percent, to 42.0 percent.
Coleman, up 1.1 percent, to 11.3 percent. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
North campaigns at sporting club
Oliver North shoots clay birds during a campaign stop at Buffalo
Creek Sporting Club in Lynch Station, Va., Saturday. North's
campaigning style is a mixture of made-for-TV glitz and folksy,
old-time religion.
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE CAMPAIGN CANDIDATES by CNB