THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 20, 1994 TAG: 9410200420
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON, D.C. LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
Imagine Ward Cleaver falling into a time warp and landing in a ``Beavis and Butt-head'' episode.
Something almost as twisted happened Wednesday near the Lincoln Memorial when U.S. Sen. Charles S. Robb - a confirmed member of the Perry Como generation - made a play for the young, cynical viewers of MTV.
Some politicians who have gone after the MTV crowd have dressed the part in turtlenecks or sweaters. Robb showed up for an MTV interview decked out in his standard blue suit and black leather wingtips.
``My `hip quotient' may not be quite as high as my daughters would like it to be,'' he confessed.
Robb compensated for his cool-impaired personality by bringing along his 24-year-old daughter, Cathy.
``Make me hip,'' he pleaded, slipping an arm around his daughter.
He did not let go of her for the entire 20-minute interview.
Robb was spared a pop quiz about R.E.M.'s startling new sound or the cultural significance of the ``Beavis and Butt-head'' cartoon series.
An MTV producer asked about gun control, health care reform and other routine issues for a segment scheduled to debut on the cable channel in the next 10 days. Co-producer Rhonda Markowitz said Republican candidate Oliver L. North declined requests for an interview.
The biggest challenge for MTV will be finding nanosecond sound-bites in the Senator's bureaucratic vernacular. For instance, Robb took the simple declaration ``Oliver North lies'' and turned it into: ``I find it necessary to look at his actions rather than words in many cases because the factual accuracy of what he says has not always been borne out by the rest of the details.''
The tough questions began after the MTV interview, when a pack of reporters sensing pop-culture meltdown moved in for the kill. Robb was hard-pressed to describe his musical tastes or even recall his teenage favorites from the 1950s.
``I basically listened to all of those folks in their time, and many others whose names I have forgotten at this point,'' he said. ``I listened to all those folks, when television first started - that was back before your medium was so pervasive in our lives. We thought we were real lucky to have a black-and-white picture that may or may not have been mostly snow. Today, we're upset if we even have a temporary loss of service.''
With that, Robb rushed off to a more manageable appointment.
He was going to get a root canal. MEMO: North ahead in latest Mason-Dixon Poll/A14
ILLUSTRATION: AP
During the 20-minute taping near the Lincoln Memorial, Virginia Sen.
Charles S. Robb hugged his daughter Cathy, 24.
KEYWORDS: CANDIDATE U.S. SENTATE RACE CAMPAIGN by CNB