THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 3, 1996 TAG: 9609030088
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BUENA VISTA LENGTH: 82 lines
John Warner cruised down the center of Magnolia Avenue on Monday looking like the U.S. Senator from Central Casting.
He sat ramrod straight on the back of a power-red convertible, his face shielded from the morning sun by a Stetson that was more country squire than cowboy.
The Republican waved and called out an occasional greeting to the folks along the parade route in this gritty town, population of 6,900, near Roanoke. Mostly, Warner maintained a dignified distance befitting a 69-year-old patriarch holding such high office.
A few blocks back, Mark Warner - no relation to John Warner - dashed back and forth across the street, pressing every square inch of flesh within reach.
``I'm the underdog; I've got to work harder,'' the 41-year-old Democrat huffed, pausing long enough to shake hands with a klatch of lawn-chaired women.
By the end of the two-mile parade route, Mark Warner had soaked through his button-down shirt and khakis, leaving behind a wake of sweat beads. He was in such a hurry that he climbed into a helicopter and disappeared over the mountains before his turn came to speak before a Labor Day gathering at Glen Maury Park.
The Buena Vista parade has become the official start of the fall election season, an opportunity for Virginia politicians to pretend that campaigns are still a succession of small-town parades and band-shell speeches.
The nostalgia didn't sell Larry Ware, a 44-year-old truck driver from nearby Augusta County.
``We need jobs; we don't need no handshake,'' Ware said after he declined Mark Warner's out-stretched palm. ``They come around here every year, shaking your hand and patting you on the head. Then they forget.''
John Warner cast himself not as an election-year visitor, but as a near-native by virtue of his undergraduate degree from nearby Washington and Lee University. Moreover, Warner has been in office for 18 years, long enough to take credit for federal projects that have helped this flood-prone region.
``Remember, this is my country,'' the senator said after the parade. ``Did you see that floodwall over there? Who do you think introduced the bill in the Senate?''
The senator seemed amused when told that his younger opponent turned the parade into a two-mile sprint.
``He's trying to run off a little nervous energy, I guess.''
For Mark Warner, Buena Vista was a chance to assess his uphill campaign after a summer criss-crossing the state in his wife's minivan and pouring $3 million of his personal fortune into a television blitz designed to introduce him to Virginia voters.
And in the last week, Mark Warner launched an offense in which he claims that John Warner's voting record does not square with his image as a pragmatic independent.
But that message could prove a tough sell, if Democratic activist H.P. Widdifield Jr. of Buena Vista is any indication.
Widdifield, a retired Buena Vista tire dealer, declined to wear a ``Mark Warner'' lapel sticker during a Democratic breakfast at Southern Virginia College. He likes John Warner for standing up against fellow Republican Oliver North two years ago.
``A man who did that,'' he said, ``I'm 100 percent for.''
When the parade began, Mark Warner dashed down Magnolia Avenue in his brown wingtips like a scrappy basketball player trying to make the team on pure hustle.
``My hand's sweating, that's right,'' he said to a young family. ``I'm working hard. If I'm not willing to run for it, you shouldn't hire me.''
Some people appeared impressed by his frenetic energy; others, like 74-year-old John Miller, wondered why anyone would put so much effort into running against John Warner.
``He's spinning his wheels,'' Miller said. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS
Sen. John Warner, right , tries out the cane of T.R. Holland of
Lexington during the Labor Day celebration in Buena Vista. Warner is
running for re-election against Democrat Mark Warner.
Mark Warner, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, races from
one side to the other along the two-mile Labor Day parade route
shaking hands Monday in Buena Vista.
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGNING
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