THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 24, 1996 TAG: 9610240368
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG LENGTH: 36 lines
Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson said Wednesday that Bob Dole's presidential campaign has been inept.
``It's certainly not the type of campaign I would have run,'' Robertson, the Chesapeake-based Christian Coalition founder who sought the GOP presidential nomination in 1988, said during a visit to the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University.
Chris LaCivita, a spokesman for Dole's Virginia campaign, said such criticism ``clearly isn't helpful'' to Dole's chances against President Clinton. He said he hopes Robertson's followers in the Christian Coalition won't be so discouraged that they stay home Nov. 5.
``Bob Dole is the candidate who clearly represents more of the issues that conservatives identify with,'' LaCivita said. ``Bill Clinton doesn't.''
Robertson refused to dismiss Dole's chances entirely, despite polls showing Clinton ahead.
``You don't want to write him off and say he can't win because that might hurt us down the ticket,'' Robertson said. ``I'm hopeful that we'll retain control of the Congress.''
Falwell said he, too, has been disappointed in the Dole campaign.
``He didn't ask for my advice, but if he had I would have told him to take Clinton on head to head and talk about what kind of person he is,'' he said. ``(Clinton's) clearly unfit to be president.
``I think Bob Dole, like George Bush in 1992, has been poorly advised,'' Falwell said. ``He's had advisors who worried too much about negative campaigning. When you're running against a negative person like Bill Clinton, I think that's what you have to do.''
KEYWORDS: PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 1996 by CNB