THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 21, 1994 TAG: 9410210655
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KEITH MONROE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
For liberals, it was once a badge of honor to have made Nixon's enemies list. For conservatives, showing up in the ``Doonesbury'' comic by Garry Trudeau may provide a similar perverse pleasure.
By this yardstick, Oliver North is obviously doing something right. He dominates the strip for the week beginning Monday. At the center of the plot is a familiar face - Uncle Duke, the veteran of countless covert actions.
When ``Doonesbury'' readers last visited the North campaign, in late June, Duke was monitoring an interview of the candidate by intrepid reporter Rick Redfern. Duke was responsible for giving North a heads-up when the candidate began lying and for cutting off the interview when North began claiming he was on a mission from God.
In the latest installments, Duke is still holding down the hot seat in the North campaign's situation room. He has agents at his command whenever the candidate hits the campaign trail and can provide North with prompting through a Secret Service-style earpiece.
During the course of next week, Duke will help North wrap himself in a flag - a Confederate flag. He'll dispatch his operatives to deal with a heckler and will whisper in the candidate's ear to avert a damaging gaffe.
By the end of the week, Duke will have impressed North with his mettle and will be looking forward to playing a leading role in the North White House after ``The Waffle'' is defeated in 1996. But readers may want to stay tuned; Duke has overreached before.
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE VIRGINIA CANDIDATES COMIC
STRIPS by CNB