THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 9, 1994 TAG: 9411090357
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A15 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVE ADDIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
Rep. Owen B. Pickett survived the storm of anti-Democrat, anti-incumbent anger with surprising ease Tuesday, turning back two-time Republican challenger Jim Chapman in the 2nd District congressional race.
Pickett, elected to Congress in 1986, earned a fifth term by running up solid margins against Chapman in the Democrat-heavy precincts of Norfolk and the district's more conservative Virginia Beach suburbs. Pickett took 59 percent of the vote.
Told that his margin of victory would be greater than it was two years ago, when he beat Chapman with 55 percent of the vote, Pickett said, ``Sounds good to me.''
``I feel great,'' Pickett said as he prepared to enter his victory celebration in Virginia Beach. ``I'm glad the campaign is over. I'm glad the public had a very sound hearing of the issues. They've spoken clearly and convincingly.''
After his second failed bid for Congress, Chapman said, ``If you think it's tough to give this speech tonight, you should try to do it twice.''
Chapman, joined by his wife and two daughters at a GOP gathering in Virginia Beach, thanked supporters and praised Republicans for successes elsewhere.
Chapman tried to unglue Pickett from the 2nd District seat by using a campaign heavy on scorn for President Clinton and strong on the Republicans' national agenda for congressional term limits, a balanced-budget amendment, a presidential line-item veto, lower taxes and a strong defense.
He campaigned frequently with Senate candidate Oliver L. North and was an ardent supporter of the GOP's ``Contract with America.''
Chapman's strategy was something of a ``one-size-fits-all'' attack Republicans used against Democratic incumbents. He tailored it in the 2nd District to emphasize the GOP's traditional support for a powerful military, and he cast Pickett as a free-spending friend of the Clinton agenda.
But it proved difficult to wrap Pickett, running in a region he has served in state and national office for more than 20 years, in that cloak. He turned Chapman's ``free-spender'' taunts into proof that he has supported strong funding for military programs important to Norfolk and Virginia Beach.
``We planned the campaign this time realizing it was a very, very volatile environment,'' Pickett said. ``We realized the victory in 1992 was not huge and that we'd have to work very, very hard to equal what we achieved then.''
Unlike 1992, when his new-boy status made it tough to raise funds, Chapman came at Pickett with some $400,000 raised by late October. Most of it went into slick direct-mail fliers and television and radio ads.
Late in the campaign, Chapman added to the ``Clinton-clone'' message ads meant to portray Pickett as weak on crime and parole. Pickett argued the attack was based on an artful interpretation of a few obscure procedural votes.
Pickett slapped back with negative ads of his own. His campaign pulled clips from a 1992 debate and selectively framed them in a way that showed Chapman dismissing local military spending as little more than ``pork and goodies.''
Asked after his speech Tuesday why his campaign fell short, Chapman said: ``It's difficult to assess at this point what turned sour on us, but I know everyone in this room gave everything they could into this campaign. And it just wasn't the year people wanted to send Bill Clinton a message, for some reason.
``Mr. Pickett's message that I wanted to close the bases may have cut with some people. And I'm certainly disappointed that he twisted my words to suggest that. But he's going to continue on being the representative, and frankly I hope that he is successful in saving our bases.''
The Pickett-Chapman dialogue was often lost in the lurid rumble of the Senate race. What impact it might have had on the congressional vote was an incalculable joker in the 2nd District deck.
Twenty minutes after a grinning Pickett addressed a boisterous mob at the Democrats' party, that question was answered in a roar that went up as a television network declared Charles S. Robb had defeated North for the U.S. Senate seat. MEMO: Staff writer Mylene Mangalindan contributed to this report.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN/Staff
Rep. Owen Pickett makes his victory speech to a cheering crowd
Tuesday at Grand Affairs in Virginia Beach. Pickett was elected to
his fifth term in Congress.
Graphic
2ND DISTRICT
Photos
Pickett
Chapman
Owen B. Pickett (D) 78,524
J. L. Chapman IV (R) 54,623
KEYWORDS: HOUSE OF DELEGATES RACE 2ND DISTRICT RESULTS by CNB