THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 2, 1996 TAG: 9611020268
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 61 lines
Anthony J. Zevgolis learned one thing in his unsuccessful 1992 bid to unseat Democratic incumbent Norman Sisisky: It takes a lot of resources, financial and otherwise, to challenge someone who's held the job for so long. Sisisky's represented Virginia's 4th district in Congress for 14 years.
Zevgolis thinks he probably doesn't have what it takes this year either.
``I knew when I got into this race that it was going to be another David-against-Goliath scenario,'' Zevgolis said on a talk show broadcast recently on WCTV-23, Chesapeake's public-access television station. ``And that I would certainly have to make my appeal to the grass-roots public, that certainly I couldn't match a millionaire incumbent who's gone on record to state that he would spend whatever it takes to win a race.
``There's no way, realistically, to compete with that.''
Zevgolis expects to raise $25,000 by election day next week, including $5,000 he says he got from the Republican National Committee.
Sisisky, who said he has not mounted an aggressive fund-raising campaign because he knows his challenger has not drummed up much money, has reported to the Federal Elections Commission campaign receipts of $172,514. Nearly 68 percent of that total, according to the report, came from political action committees.
The reason for the wide disparity between the two campaigns, Zevgolis said, is that he got into the race late. State Republican leaders, with no one else coming forward to challenge Sisisky, asked Zevgolis to take the field.
``This was a last-minute deal. I had not planned on it,'' he said.
There was no time to wage a large-scale fund-raising campaign.
``It's hard to get off the ground when you start so late,'' said Christopher J. LaCivita, executive director of the state's Republican party.
Zevgolis' low budget gives him just enough to print up fliers and signs, being distributed by Republican party volunteers throughout the fourth district. He'll conduct one mass mailing to the district's voters, he said.
Otherwise, he's relying on free media exposure. He's done several television talk shows and has welcomed chances to talk to newspaper reporters.
His wife, Vickie, and a Republican committee member from his hometown of Hopewell are acting as his campaign managers, schedulers and treasurers.
At times, he said, his low-profile campaign gets to be painful.
In a taping of a talk show moderated by former Chesapeake Mayor Sidney M. Oman, which aired recently on the city's public access channel, Oman asked Zevgolis how he would help Chesapeake residents resolve two long-standing traffic problems - routes 17 and 168.
Zevgolis was caught off-guard. He was unfamiliar with where Route 17 was. He responded to Oman's questions with generalities about how important it is for the federal government to support road projects.
``I don't have $50,000 to do polling in Chesapeake to find out what all the issues are,'' Zevgolis said of the interview later.
Zevgolis said he is just hoping his grass-roots efforts will bring in some votes. If he is not successful this time, he is looking at this campaign as a warm-up for 1998, when he plans to launch a full-scale bid for Sisisky's seat. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
[Anthony J. Zevgolis]
KEYWORDS: CANDIDATE U.S. CONGRESSIONAL RACE ELECTION
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