THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 19, 1996 TAG: 9610190228
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL SIZEMORE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 67 lines
It'll be in and out, nobody gets hurt.
That's the scenario as Bob Dole swoops into Hampton Roads this afternoon to rally the faithful in an effort to keep Virginia from deserting the Republican party next month.
Organizers of the rally at Nauticus say they're prepared to move Dole into and out of downtown Norfolk with a minimum of disruption in just a little over two hours. Behind the scenes, a small army of campaign staffers and volunteers will labor to translate his brief appearance into a bump in those pesky polls.
The GOP presidential nominee is scheduled to fly into Norfolk International Airport at 1:55 p.m. Then a motorcade of 15 to 20 vehicles will whisk him and his entourage downtown for the rally.
A major part of the caravan will be vans hauling the traveling press - the 80 to 100 journalists who stick with Dole on the campaign trail. The press corps at this stage of the campaign is so large that they don't all fit on the candidate's plane. Only a small pool of reporters actually flies with Dole; the rest are consigned to a second plane.
Dole operatives say it's doubtful there will be any serious traffic tie-ups as the motorcade zips through town.
``The police work very diligently to not create that kind of scenario,'' Adrienne Cisneros, a Dole advance staffer, said Friday. ``They're very sharp. They just jump ahead, moments before the motorcade comes, and block it off. The motorcade goes through and they open it up again. We move him quite rapidly.''
Meanwhile, the rally at the maritime museum on the downtown waterfront will already be under way.
``We'll have a pre-program with the local officials,'' Cisneros said. ``There'll be a lot of entertainment, festive things going on, balloons. It's basically a fire-up kind of thing.''
The 1:30 p.m. rally will be in Nauticus' Celebration Pavilion, a large brick patio under an overhang on the waterfront end of the museum that holds about 3,000 people.
The crowd will pose no problem for Nauticus, said Scott Clemons, the museum's special events manager.
``Since the event is outside, it won't impact our regular business,'' Clemons said. ``There will be a large number of people coming through the first floor, but the first floor is open to the public anyway. So it won't impede the regular guests from enjoying their visit here.
``And, hey, if there's going to be a lot of people on the first floor, they'll probably eat in the restaurant and go in the gift shop.''
In addition to Dole, the event will feature Republican Sen. John Warner and Gov. George F. Allen, who is chairman of Dole's Virginia campaign.
Dole is to speak at 2:30. Afterward he'll do a ``meet and greet'' with the crowd. ``He'll work the rope line, he'll autograph posters and other paraphernalia, shake hands, take pictures,'' Cisneros said. ``We have a very lively band that will keep everybody in high spirits. And then he's off to the airport.''
His flight out is scheduled for 4:10.
Security is provided by the U.S. Secret Service, working with local police.
``They basically are there if anything gets out of hand,'' Cisneros said. ``Usually we haven't had a lot of disturbances or anything like that.''
And what exactly does a security detail for a presidential candidate include? Nobody's saying.
``You need to be talking to the Secret Service,'' said Larry Hill, a spokesman for the Norfolk police. ``They're the leaders of this type of activity. Anything we do is just providing support.''
The Secret Service, however, didn't return a phone call.
KEYWORDS: CAMPAIGN PRESIDENTIAL RACE CANDIDATE
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