THE LEDGER-STAR
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 30, 1994 TAG: 9411300647
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
Oliver North lost his bid for a U.S. Senate seat, but he hopes he has not lost his Midas touch for fund raising.
The failed Republican Senate nominee and former Iran-Contra figure has mailed more than 100,000 letters over the past two weeks. North writes that his political action committee, V-PAC, is ``financially exhausted.''
``You and I cannot afford to take a break - not even during the holiday season,'' North's letter reads. ``Because even though we won many crucial battles this year and the liberals' power structure appears to be crumbling, the war is far from over.''
North has dropped out of sight in the three weeks since he lost to U.S. Sen. Charles S. Robb by a margin of 45.6 percent to 42.9 percent.
Mark Merritt, V-PAC chairman, said the mail is coming in faster than it can be counted.
North raised more than $20 million for his campaign, and plans several campaign mailings to reduce a debt that is expected to run a few hundred thousand dollars.
Merritt said he did not know V-PAC's bank balance. ``There is some money, but that is enough to do prospecting and fund raising, and nothing more than that,'' he said.
Merritt pegged V-PAC's fund-raising goal at $3 million to $5 million in the next year.
North founded V-PAC in 1991. It will soon be renamed Team America PAC. North promises in the letters to build a political network with chapters in all 50 states.
The goal is to assemble ``a nationwide army of grassroots conservatives who will help us retake the White House in 1996 from Bill Clinton,'' the letter said.
North started a legal defense fund after checks poured in following his televised testimony at the Iran-Contra hearings in 1987, and since has built a mailing list of more than 250,000.
Paul Goldman, who was a media consultant to Robb, laughed when North's letter was read to him.
``What do you expect?'' Goldman said. ``When Webster does his new dictionary, the definition of shameless will start and end with Ollie North.'' by CNB