THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 5, 1996 TAG: 9606050363
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY WARREN FISKE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESTER, VA. LENGTH: 71 lines
Bob Dole came anyway, despite Jim Miller's warning.
The presumptive Republican nominee journeyed to this bedroom community 15 miles south of Richmond Tuesday to challenge President Bill Clinton to support a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.
Dole said he will bring the matter up for a vote before he retires from the U.S. Senate next Tuesday to focus on his presidential bid. The amendment failed in the Senate by one vote last year, an outcome Dole said could be reversed if the president would urge Democrats to sign on.
``As I said yesterday, Mr. President: No winks, no nods, no maneuvers,'' Dole said. ``Say it out loud. Say you're for the balanced budget amendment.''
Dole avoided discussing state politics even though he's become a player in the June 11 GOP primary. Senate candidate James C. Miller III said last weekend that Dole risked alienating many conservatives by supporting Sen. John W. Warner.
``I'll be back to talk about that,'' said Dole, referring to a Warner fund-raiser he's scheduled to attend Saturday along with Colin Powell, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Warner accompanied Dole to Chester, where the Kansan made his speech at a new housing development with modest, three-bedroom homes selling for slightly more than $100,000. He said a balanced budget would lower interest rates and make homes dramatically more affordable for the middle class.
It was a big day for residents of the Pheasant Run Housing Development. About 80 neighbors crowded the street as Dole, leading a flock of reporters and Secret Service agents, toured a home and gave a speech on the front porch of a house under construction.
That one-story dwelling belonged to Keith Lynch, a 31-year-old meteorologist who recently bought it for $109,500. He would have preferred a nearby two-story house going for $120,000 but decided it was too steep. Had interest rates not risen by a percentage point this year, Lynch said he could have afforded the house of his dreams.
Not that Lynch is complaining. ``This is all very exciting,'' he said minutes before Dole dropped in. ``It hasn't really sunk in with me yet.''
Lynch said he was inspecting his home Tuesday when ``a couple of guys in suits'' from the Dole campaign asked if he'd mind them using his house for the speech.
Dole also mentioned the Allisons, a couple from nearby Hopewell who just had a baby girl and want to move to a larger home. ``We're trying to find anything we can,'' said Mark Allison, a wastewater-treatment plant worker who pulls in all of the family's income of $31,000. ``Interest rates are the key factor. If they go down, we can do it. If they go up, it's over.''
It was also a good day for Warner, who stood by Dole's side as the television cameras whirred. ``A picture's worth a thousand words,'' beamed Warner.
``You've never in the history of mankind seen a senator endorse a challenger to someone who is another member of the club,'' said Miller in a campaign stop Tuesday in Danville.
Miller last weekend won a straw poll of delegates at the state Republican convention. Conservative activists have been angered at Warner's refusal to support two recent GOP state nominees. Miller warned that Dole's appearance at the fund-raiser could offend activists and threaten his chance of carrying Virginia's presidential vote this fall.
Of Warner, Dole said: ``He does a great job. We've been in the Senate together for a long time. He's a real conservative.''
Miller accused Warner of nosing in on the trip to be seen with Dole. Ken Stroupe, a spokesman for Gov. George F. Allen, said Dole had been planning the trip for several weeks. ``I became aware that Senator Warner would be involved yesterday,'' Stroupe said. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bob Dole didn't discuss state politics on his visit to the Richmond
area Tuesday, although Sen. John W. Warner, right, was with him. by CNB