THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 7, 1994 TAG: 9411070057
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
A dozen volunteers and staffers at Sen. Charles S. Robb's headquarters spent much of Friday addressing postcards aimed at reminding supporters to get to the polls on Tuesday.
``We got 2,000 out - not bad,'' said Abbi Easter, a coordinator for the Democrat's re-election campaign.
Across town at Republican challenger Oliver L. North's headquarters, volunteers did not bother with affixing address labels and licking stamps.
North devoted a sizable chunk of his $18 million campaign fund to hiring professionals to process get-out-the-vote mail, including a batch of what aides say was 20,000 postcards mailed Thursday to households in the Richmond area.
Twenty-four hours before the first ballots are cast, the candidates for U.S. Senate will make one more perfunctory stop in each of the state's four major television markets.
With most public opinion surveys showing the race too close to call, the question now becomes which candidate has the organization to identify his supporters and get them to the polls.
Robb spent the weekend warning that his momentum in recent public opinion polls could be reversed on Election Day by the almost religious fervor of North's conservative supporters and the best get-out-the-vote effort that money can buy.
``We're not taking anything for granted,'' Robb said.
North has boasted for months about his computer-driven firepower. The state Republican Party hired callers to survey candidate preferences and policy positions of more than 500,000 registered voters across the state. The results allowed the North campaign to tailor its message in get-out-the-vote mailings and phone banks.
Abortion foes were told about North's pro-life stand. Veterans were reminded of Robb's support for gays in the military. Retirees were told that North was four-square behind Social Security.
Tony Linkins, a North consultant, said the campaign sent out a million pieces of mail in the last week.
Robb's campaign is less open about its get-out-the-vote operation. It appears, though, that Robb's focus is on his base of support in the voter-rich suburbs of Washington, and in the African-American community.
Robb has spent much of the last 10 days reaching out to black groups.
``Tuesday's the day,'' he reminded the crowd Saturday at the I.C. Norcom High School homecoming parade in Portsmouth.
The Robb campaign will hire volunteers - known as ``flushers'' - to go door-to-door in inner-city precincts in hopes of boosting the black turnout. African Americans represent about 18 percent of registered voters.
Norfolk City Councilman Herbert M. Collins said that North - who has expressed support for a group seeking to fly the Confederate flag over a city museum in Danville - has energized African Americans.
Collins likened the contest against North to the historic struggle against the Harry Byrd machine that resisted school desegregation and systematically excluded blacks from the ballot box.
``I think everything that can be done has been done,'' Collins said. ``The only variable left is the weather.''
Good weather is believed to favor Robb. Rain could give North an advantage because his supporters may be more determined to vote.
Independent J. Marshall Coleman has no get-out-the-vote machine. Running a distant third in polls, Coleman hopes that voters will see the choice between Robb and North as so distasteful that they will turn to him as an alternative.
KEYWORDS: CANDIDATE U.S. SENATE RACE ELECTION
by CNB