THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 3, 1996 TAG: 9610300104
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY WENDY GROSSMAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 144 lines
STANDING ON THE STEPS of Norfolk State University's student union, Kirk Callwood is cooling out after marketing class when senatorial candidate Mark Warner jogs up with his jacket slung over his arm.
Warner gives Callwood and his fraternity brothers each a firm handshake, looks them in the eye and asks how their day is going. The guys don't have anything else to do before the pep rally, so they go upstairs to hear Warner speak.
Forty days before the election, Warner tells an audience of about 80 that he's the new and improved Warner, no relation to John. A few students are between classes, some have been required to attend by professors and others have cut class just to hear him.
Forty minutes into Warner's speech, 22-year-old Monica Rutledge wanders out the side exit. Her back hurts. And she doesn't really like his style.
``He wasn't answering the questions directly,'' she says, munching on a chocolate-chip cookie. ``And he was stuttering. When politicians stutter, that means they lying.''
On the campaign trail, Warner has visited every city and county in all 135 jurisdictions. He's played basketball with high school kids, gone to a fiddlers' convention, county fairs, tobacco farms and coal mines.
He's hula-hooped for five minutes during a Bible study class. Promised ladies in a Richmond retirement home that he'll bring them more good-looking men. Once, he took off his socks and walked around barefoot shaking hands while his shoes were being shined.
After finishing his speech, Warner takes off his jacket and heads back downstairs. Outside, he stands behind the DJ as bass pounds from the speaker.
Natalie Ganther hands him a green ``NSU beat Delaware'' button and he pins it on his shirt pocket. Warner says a quick hello and then began to work the audience.
``It's a tough crowd,'' he says, walking away from the microphone. ``The last thing they want is to hear from a politician at a pep rally.''
Corey Saunders looks over at Warner.
Who's that guy? He nudges his buddy Ricardo Finley.
He's running for Senate.
Republican or Democrat?
Democrat.
Warner jogs down the steps toward Davell Dixon, standing with a cigar behind his ear and a toothpick between his teeth.
``Even if you don't vote for me, get registered,'' Warner says, rolling up his sleeves under the noon sun.
Dodging CDs the DJ is throwing to the crowd, Warner shakes hands with the girls sitting on the bottom steps.
``I didn't even know he was running,'' says Keshia Askew, 20, sticking a Vote for Warner sticker on her white jeans. ``Isn't there an old Warner? That's who I thought he was.''
Dwayne Watson, 29, knows exactly who Warner is. And he is skeptical about the candidate's position on education and the military. Warner loosens his tie and talks for a few minutes.
Warner walks up to Monique Dawson, asks her name and tells her how to get registered.
As he walks away, she reads her new sticker and asks, ``What is he about? What's he running for? The Senate?'' She has missed all 12 of his TV commercials.
Robert Pearson, however, has caught them all. When he sees Warner in person he brushes right on by.
``I don't need to talk to him,'' Pearson says. ``I seen his commercials. It don't make no difference to me if he was here or not.''
At 5:30 p.m. Oct. 10, Mark Warner's polished dress blacks squish into the Suffolk mud.
This is the billionth festival he's attended, his press secretary says. Pork. Chicken. Cantaloupe. Peanut. Now shrimp.
Ten feet from the Dole campaign, Warner starts shaking hands.
Fifty-four-year-old Mary Ann Eure of Suffolk slaps a Warner sticker on each of her shoulders. Then she pats two more on her husband Jack's red sweater. The Democratic candidate needs double support to outdo John Warner, she says.
Chuck Fisher, 46, owner of Clean-Rite Press, a small business in Suffolk, pumps Warner's hand and then recounts the problems small businesses face.
Warner says he understands.
``I'm a Republican,'' Fisher says, walking away. ``But I like what he says. We need some new blood that understands what's going on.''
But parking at the gate hasn't gotten everyone excited for Warner.
``I don't like seeing the Mark Warner and Dole/Kemp camp at the door,'' says Andy Perry of Elizabeth City. ``It ain't right.''
Warner's aide offers him a sticker.
``I'm a Warner-man,'' Perry says, brushing past. ``But not that one.''
Dressed in his usual blue shirt (doesn't show the sweat, he says), Warner started his day of press conferences at the Vienna Metro Stop at 6:45 this morning.
He got four hours of sleep last night. He doesn't drink coffee.
Still, he says he's not tired as he stands by two blue dumpsters and a case of fresh-roasted peanuts.
``Are you any relation to John?'' asks Carla Digiovanni, a 33-year-old liberal-arts student at Tidewater Community College.
``Nope,'' he says, grinning. ``I'm the new and improved version.''
``You pro-women's rights?'' she asks.
He gives a thumbs-up. ``Definitely.''
Brenda Byrum, 48, rushes up to greet Warner.
``I don't know nothing about him,'' she says afterward. ``I just wanted to shake his hand because he's a nice-looking man.''
He's been standing for more than an hour. He has to go to the men's room, he says. He doesn't.
He's handed a styrofoam cup of lemonade. Great.
``Would you mind taking a picture of me with the senator?'' Patricia Knott Chapman of Chesapeake asks a reporter. ``I need two pictures for my scrapbook - as far as I'm concerned he's already a winner.''
It'll be framed right over her desk. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot
ABOVE: ``Even if you don't vote for me, get registered,'' Democratic
candidate Mark Warner tells Davell Dixon at a campaign appearance at
Norfolk State University.
Mark Warner knows how to work both sides of the street. In Denbigh,
he races to greet bystanders during the Denbigh Day Parade. He ran
the entire parade route shaking hands with potential voters.
RIGHT: Mark Warner feeds cable to the ceiling at Norton Elementary
School in southwest Virginia. He was helping parents and teachers
wire the school for the Internet.
FAR RIGHT: Warner shakes hands at a tailgate party at the former
Maggie Walker High School in Richmond. While in the capital city, he
also attended a football game between Virginia Union and Virginia
State.
Warner works up a sweat while running along the parade route on
Denbigh Day in late September, when temperatures were in the 80s and
the humidity was high.
ABOVE: Mark Warner works the crowd at the entrance to the Suffolk
Shrimp Feast, which was prime territory for candidates. His opponent
was there, too.
LEFT: In the midst of a long day of campaigning, Warner scans the
Richmond skyline as his plane prepares to land.
KEYWORDS: ELECTION VIRGINIA U.S. SENATE RACE VIRGINIA
CANDIDATES DEMOCRATIC PARTY VIRGINIA CAMPAIGNING by CNB