THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 24, 1995 TAG: 9510240295
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: Election '95
SOURCE: BY TONI WHITT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
His legs are wobbly, and his forehead is glistening with sweat. Two weeks before the General Assembly elections, Republican challenger F.E. ``Dutch'' Andrews is making his final rounds trying to persuade folks in the 80th District - a Democratic stronghold - to vote for him.
But it's not the campaign that's making Andrews unsteady on his feet. It's a pair of Rollerblades.
``Most people remember me; they think it's an efficient way to campaign,'' Andrews said. ``I equate it to efficiency in government.''
His opponent, Democratic incumbent Del. Kenneth Melvin, said he's doing the more traditional door-to-door campaign.
He's walking through the neighborhoods and asking people what their concerns are.
``It's always good to meet people - to have personal contact,'' Melvin said. ``I usually take a group of campaign workers with me and we walk through the neighborhoods. We all go down the same street, and if the campaign worker finds someone with a particular concern, they call me over and I talk to them personally. There's a lot of one on one.''
Melvin said he's been through ``several neighborhoods'' this year.
``I haven't found it necessary to come up with a gimmick like Rollerblading,'' he said.
Andrews doesn't have a printout of registered voters. He doesn't know people's names or whether they've voted Republican in the past. He cuts an almost comical figure dressed in his blue Oxford button-down shirt and black-and-gray pinstriped pants all bunched up around his knee pads.
At one point Andrews rolls down a slanted sidewalk and nearly loses it. He trips over the edge of the sidewalk, arms flailing at his sides, his body bent forward.
For a fast second he thinks he's about to fall, something he hasn't done since he landed spread-eagle in the middle of a manicured lawn in Elizabeth Manor three weeks ago and his doctor ordered him off his skates for two weeks.
``I got a big jump in my heart right then,'' Andrews said.
But Andrews doesn't mind the less-than sophisticated picture. His skates are an ice breaker - they allow him to get the conversation rolling. Once he gets focused on his campaign goals, he forgets all about the rough sidewalks, the buckling streets and the hundreds of steps he has climbed in the skates.
He doesn't mind any of the hardships because he counts nearly every conversation as an Election Day vote.
``I got kicked off the parking lot at Hardee's,'' Andrews said with a hint of pride. ``I was Rollerblading through the lot and talking to the customers in the drive-through line. Nobody cared until the manager got there, but then he kicked me off the lot. But I got me 30 votes first.'' ILLUSTRATION: HUY NGUYEN
The Virginian-Pilot
Republican challenger F.E. ``Dutch'' Andrews says voters remember
him as he rolls through Portsmouth, seeking votes for the 80th
District seat that he is seeking to grab from Del. Kenneth Melvin.
And, yes, he's conducted a fall campaign.
KEYWORDS: CAMPAIGN GENERAL ASSEMBLY RACE CANDIDATE by CNB