THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 21, 1996 TAG: 9608211029
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: FREDERICKSBURG LENGTH: 60 lines
U.S. Sen. John Warner told a Republican audience Tuesday he will not support the tax cut proposed by GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole if it raises interest rates or increases the federal budget deficit.
``Within that framework, to the extent that we can deliver those tax goals I will be there to deliver for Virginia,'' Warner said.
Warner reiterated his support for Dole, who campaigned for Warner during his primary contest.
Warner did not say how he will measure the GOP economic plan's effects on the deficit and interest rates. He predicted the plan's merits will be ``vigorously debated'' during the presidential campaign.
``You will not see a clear resolution one way or the other,'' Warner said. ``Bob Dole will emerge with the greatest degree of credibility for trying to relieve'' American families' economic strain.
The toughest critics of Dole's plan say the goals of deficit reduction and tax relief are immutably at odds. Warner did not go that far.
``I am proud to run on it,'' he told the group.
But any departure from Dole's positions is unusual for Warner, who said Tuesday he considers the former majority leader his ``big brother in the Senate.''
Warner warmly recalled Dole's emotional final speech in the Senate before resigning to campaign for president this year, and a poignant visit the two men made to the site where Dole was wounded in World War II.
``That bonds two individuals,'' he said.
Warner said he has not yet told Dole of his reservations about the economic plan, but he is certain Dole will understand.
Warner, whose refusal to back two Republican nominees for statewide office enraged conservative activists, said he knows he may pay a price for qualifying his support of the centerpiece of the GOP national race.
``I speak my conscience. I support what's best for my country and my state,'' Warner said after the luncheon speech to Fredericksburg Republicans. ``I'll take the consequences.''
The consequences of opposing GOP Senate nominee Oliver North two years ago materialized this year, when Warner faced a far-right conservative in a primary.
Some leaders of his own state party were openly hostile to Warner, calling him an unreliable Republican and worse.
Nonetheless, Warner defeated former Reagan budget director James C. Miller III handily in the primary and leads his opponent in the Nov. 5 election, Democrat Mark Warner, in the polls. The candidates are not related.
Until this year, Dole was vocally skeptical of supply-side theory, which holds that economic activity generated by tax cuts will spur enough growth to shrink rather than increase the deficit.
Dole and running mate Jack Kemp, a longtime supply-sider, focused on the proposal to cut taxes 15 percent and establish a $500 per child tax credit during the GOP convention last week. It is the centerpiece of the pair's campaign appearances this week and the subject of the first GOP post-convention television ad.
KEYWORDS: PRESIDENTIAL RACE 1996 ENDORSEMENTS
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