THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 10, 1994 TAG: 9410100029
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
U.S. Senator Charles S. Robb switched into the attack mode Sunday with a television ad listing former associates of Republican Oliver L. North, including former President Reagan, who have questioned North's veracity.
``Why do so many people who have worked with Oliver North say he doesn't tell the truth?'' a narrator asks in the 30-second ad that begins airing today across the state.
The ad claims that a virtual who's who list of conservatives has accused North of ``making false statements,'' including Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, Robert MacFarlane, North's boss at the National Security Council; the widow of former CIA Director William Casey, and even editors at the Reader's Digest.
North, who in recent days has accused Robb of mudslinging, could not be reached for comment Sunday night.
Robb, who had been running positive TV ads touting his record in the Senate and as governor, begins his attack on North's crediblity on the heels of the Republican's gaffe-filled appearance at a Falls Church high school last week. North told students that he never lied to Congress during his role in the Iran-Contra scandal, that he never expresses support for flying the Confederate flag over public buildings, and claimed Robb supported abortion into the ninth-month of pregnancy. NORTH CAMPAIGN CRIES POOR
Is Oliver L. North's U.S. Senate campaign broke?
That's the impression North has tried to create in a recent fund-raising letter that was mailed to his contributors across the country. In the letter, North laments that his campaign is suffering ``a severe cash shortage'' and that ``our bank account is nearly dry.''
But the North campaign is far from penniless, spokesman Mark Merritt acknowledged when asked about the letter. In fact, North is on the verge of breaking the all-time record for fund-raising by a U.S. Senate candidate: $17.8 million set by Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., in 1990. Merritt said a report North will file with the Federal Election Commission this month will show that the campaign has raised $16 million as of Oct. 1. ``We're expecting to finish up with about $18 million,'' Merritt said.
So why is North poor-mouthing?
Merritt said the campaign is spending money as fast as it comes in - much of it for television advertising during the final weeks of the contest. He said the FEC report will show that North has a cash balance of $1 million. On some days, he said, the account has been drawn below that amount.
Merritt said North's campaign plans for the final month are based on the expectation of receiving $100,000 a day in contributions. ``We're trying to tell people that unless we keep that cash flow, we're going to be unable to dominate (television advertising) in October.''
Bert Rohrer, a spokesman for Democrat Charles S. Robb, disagrees. ``That's just plain lying,'' he said of North's claim that his campaign is short on cash.
In the solicitations, North is enclosing a crisp $1 bill. ``I am willing to bet that you will not keep that $1 bill,'' he writes. ``And that instead, you will rush it back to me along with a critical emergency donation of your own.''
Some people are not amused by the tactic. Jacquie Thomas, a retired school librarian and Republican activist from Orange County, Calif., said she has received two such letters from North. The first time, she sent the dollar back with no additional contribution. The second time, she said she kept the money. ``I figure he has a lot more money than I do,'' she said. A HAIRY FUND-RAISING IDEA
Oliver North has had many hair-raising adventures in his day. For now, he's holding to a razor-thin lead in the polls. And part of his platform is cutting taxes and trimming the deficit.
But what else does the North campaign have in common with a beauty salon? Plenty, as it turns out.
Roanoke hair stylist Leslie Mitchell has organized seven of her fellow hair stylists to stage a ``Wash Out the Incumbents'' hairstyling fund-raiser. On Saturday, they'll set up shop beneath a tent in the parking lot of the Hair Mania salon in Roanoke - where they'll cut hair in exchange for at least a $5 donation to the North campaign.
Mitchell, who has never been involved in politics before, said she remembered doing lots of ``Ollie Cuts'' - ``a buzzcut up the back, tapered into the nape'' - when she was working in Washington during the Iran-Contra days.
Now Mitchell's back in Roanoke, where she recently developed a fondness for North's politics. ``I like his conservative values and his strong leadership,'' she says. Looking for a way to help, Mitchell pitched her hair-cutting idea to North's Roanoke campaign office. They loved it.
``It was just this tiny idea I had and now I've got people donating a tent and free bagels and coffee,'' Mitchell says. OLLIE'S BIG ON TWO CAMPUSES\ North wins big . . .
. . . at two mock elections last week on Virginia college campuses, that is. At Radford University, where the student government sponsored the mock poll, North took 60 percent of the vote, to Robb's 28 percent and Marshall Coleman's 11 percent.
Up the interstate at Virginia Military Institute, where the student newspaper took charge, North won an even more resounding victory. There, he took 83 percent of the vote, leaving Robb with 12 percent and Coleman with 4 percent. MEMO: Staff writers Warren Fiske, Robert Little, David M. Poole and Dwayne
Yancey contributed to this report.
KEYWORDS: SENATE RACE CANDIDATE CAMPAIGN by CNB