THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 28, 1995 TAG: 9508280060
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: MOUNT VERNON LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
Change the names, and it is a typical state legislature race, pitting a political novice with a briefcase full of conservative ideals against a two-term Democrat.
But the names are Liddy - as in Alexandra Liddy Bourne, daughter of Watergate figure and right-wing talk show host G. Gordon Liddy. And Puller - as in Linda ``Toddy'' Puller, widow of Vietnam War veteran and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Lewis Puller Jr.
This is no typical race.
Bourne's father has jumped in, pressing his daughter's cause on his radio show and even soliciting donations for her. And both candidates have received national attention thanks to their family connections.
Still, both women say their better-known relatives had little influence on their entry into politics in Virginia's 44th District, which encompasses a swath of affluent Washington suburbs.
``I was always involved, even before I was married,'' Puller said.
Bourne said that a slaying in the otherwise quiet suburbs prompted her to seek office. Teenage thugs shot her husband's best friend, a fellow White House Marine Corps band trombonist, and stole his car two years ago.
``It's very clear this crime wave that's been going on all across the country now is hitting very close to home,'' she said.
Bourne and Puller count Watergate as a defining moment in their lives. For Puller, 50, it was a loss of trust in political leaders and a sense that individuals must make their governments accountable.
For Bourne, 36, it meant working three jobs as a teenager to help pay the family bills while her father was in prison for his role in the botched political burglary.
These days his daily radio show is heard on about 250 stations nationwide. He regularly denounces President Clinton as a draft-dodger or worse, and he has advised listeners to shoot at the heads of federal agents who menace them.
Bourne says she's ``a different person'' from her father - she is a fiscal conservative, but she believes in abortion rights.
``There's a high positive and a high negative,'' Bourne said. ``There are those people who love him and will support me because I'm his daughter. And there are those who hate him and will support my opponent.''
Liddy has mentioned his daughter's race on the air, had her as a guest, and at least once suggested listeners donate to her campaign.
``It's not because I asked him to,'' Bourne said. ``He has editorial control over his show.''
Puller complained loudly, and she got a promise of seven minutes of free air time from the Fairfax County radio station where Liddy's show originates. She declined an offer to debate Bourne on the ``G. Gordon Liddy Show.''
Liddy also wrote a fund-raising letter for his daughter, asking for $15 or $20 donations.
Liddy has said Democrats made him an issue in his daughter's race by sending out a letter of their own that asks for cash to fend off a challenge ``by the daughter of hard-right conservative talk show host and convicted Watergate conspirator G. Gordon Liddy.''
``I only intended to participate in the campaign as any father would,'' a letter from Liddy said. ``However I will not allow the Democrats to use my name to defeat my very own daughter.''
This is Bourne's first race; she is a former nurse who works at a company that seeks to make entrepreneurs of welfare recipients. She has three young children.
Puller's two children are grown, and she is no political neophyte. She lost a bid for a seat in the House of Delegates - the legislature's lower house - in 1989, but won two years later and was re-elected in 1993.
The Pullers married a few weeks before he shipped out to Vietnam in 1967. Puller was gung-ho, and he carried the weighty mantle of his father, Lewis ``Chesty'' Puller, who is the most decorated Marine in history.
A few months after the younger Puller arrived in Vietnam, both of his legs and portions of both hands were blown off by a land mine.
He committed suicide last year after long struggles with alcohol, depression and addiction to painkillers - struggles detailed in his award-winning book, ``Fortunate Son.''
Puller says her husband was supportive of her political career, but as a lawyer for the Defense Department, he was unable to participate in politics. She has fought efforts to cut spending for education, and she has supported gun control in a state where most oppose it.
The race in the 44th District is important, as is every state legislature race this year. Gov. George F. Allen has been frustrated in many of his conservative initiatives by the Democratic legislature, and a shift of three seats in each house could give the Republicans control.
With three months to go before Election Day, Bourne has raised about $36,000, half of it from outside her legislative district. Puller, with help from national political action committees, has raised $59,000.
Both candidates emphasize the statewide impact of their race.
``I don't want to see us lose any more opportunities to change things for the better,'' Bourne said.
``I don't want to see Virginia become some kind of extremist state,'' Puller said.
KEYWORDS: HOUSE OF DELEGATES RACE VIRGINIA
by CNB