THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 7, 1996 TAG: 9606070484
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 69 lines
The primary is five days away, and the Republican candidates for U.S. Senate are fast at work pitching their own versions of reality.
Incumbent Sen. John Warner and challenger Jim Miller have revealed their home-stretch strategies for the final days before Tuesday's vote, Warner with a series of statewide television commercials and Miller concentrating on radio advertisements.
With turnout expected to play a critical role Tuesday, both candidates share the same goal: Target the voters most likely to support them, and stir excitement about the election with a message those voters want to hear.
The barrage comes as a new poll indicates that Warner's support has been building over the past several months, and that Miller needs a low turnout - heavy on the hard-core Republicans - in order to win.
A poll by Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research gives Warner a 53 percent to 37 percent edge over Miller in Tuesday's contest, with 10 percent undecided. But that margin relies on a healthy dose of moderates and independents - a group considered less excited by the campaign than the anti-Warner hardliners, and less apt to vote in bad weather.
The poll shows Warner's approval rating on the rise; 44 percent of likely voters had a favorable opinion of him in January 1995, compared to 53 percent this week. Miller's approval rating this week was 27 percent.
Mason-Dixon president Brad Coker attributes the disparity to the two candidates' finances, and the well-heeled Warner campaign's exclusive ability to advertise on television.
``Miller just hasn't been able to go toe-to-toe with Warner on television or other expensive media,'' said Coker. ``And I think that's beginning to show.''
Here's a look at the campaign advertisements the two candidates are airing in the final days:
A Warner television commercial portrays Miller as a big spender during the 1980s, when he served as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission.
The ad highlights two points - that Miller spent $130,000 redecorating office space, and that he flew first-class on 33 taxpayer-financed flights.
Both claims are a bit of a stretch. The money Miller spent on office improvements was used for all the FTC's executive offices, not just Miller's. Documents provided by the Warner campaign show that about $9,000 went to improvements to Miller's own office, a figure he claims is still inflated. Warner doesn't dispute that, but points out that Miller still had to authorize the expenses.
Miller says he did take the first-class airline flights, but had authorization because of arthritis in his back. Warner's ad notes that the condition didn't keep Miller from riding a motorcycle to work. Miller maintains that his arthritis prohibits him from sitting in cramped places for long periods, not from any physical activity.
A radio commercial aired by Miller features a couple, reading a newspaper, lambasting Warner as a supporter of pornography, ``Clinton liberals,'' illegal aliens and government-funded abortions. Another commercial features Mike Farris, a conservative torch-bearer in the Virginia GOP, criticizing Warner for opposing his 1993 campaign for lieutenant governor.
Miller's advertisements speak to the two central strategies of his campaign: Characterizing Warner as a liberal and painting him as an enemy of the Republican Party.
The Mason-Dixon poll sampled 481 Virginians who said they will vote in Tuesday's primary. It has a margin of error of 4.6 points up or down. A broader sampling of registered voters suggested that neither Republican would have difficulty defeating Mark Warner, the Democratic candidate. ILLUSTRATION: Jim Miller
John Warner
KEYWORDS: REPUBLICAN PRIMARY CANDIDATES by CNB