DATE: Friday, September 26, 1997            TAG: 9709260806

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LOUIS HANSEN, STAFF WRITER  

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   57 lines

RELIGIOUS RIGHT WILL PLAY ROLE IN 2000, BUCKLEY SAYS AT ODU

``How can we have moderation on same-sex marriages?''

Poised, eloquent, punchy and ever obtuse - one would expect little else from one of the country's most charismatic conservative thinkers, William F. Buckley Jr.

The pithy old man of public TV, often seen slouching his way through repartees with irascible liberals or impertinent moderates on ``Firing Line,'' was in town to offer his ``Refections on Current Contentions'' and kick off the 1997-98 President's Lecture Series at Old Dominion University.

More than 600 attended, as many local conservatives as students.

Founder of National Review and editor since 1955, moderator of ``Firing Line'' since 1966, syndicated columnist ``On the Right'' in more than 300 newspapers - one could wonder, when does this 72-year-old get to sail all those boats of his, much less tour college campuses?

Buckley said he speaks at about a dozen universities annually.

Campuses are not as politicized as they once were, he said.

``There isn't much excitement, right now, out there at least not that I have run into,'' he said in a pre-speech interview. During his 60-minute lecture, which included written questions from the audience, Buckley addressed topics ranging from Pat Robertson and the Christian Coalition to the legalization of marijuana. But the lingering harmony in his speech - played full with anecdotes - was a desire for less government and greater personal responsibility.

``No assignment which can be taken on by the private sector should be given to the public sector,'' he said, when asked what the role of government should be.

He said he welcomed the recent Pat Robertson utterance that ``moderates lose'' if that meant the group was headed for more conservative ground.

``Everything the Christian Coalition has ever been identified with was the law when I was in college,'' said Buckley.

``I didn't think of myself as having any problems, other than buying Sunday's whiskey on Saturday,'' he added, with the prodding grin and arched eyebrows that have set off so many a liberal curse.

Buckley believes that the religious right has always played a role in conservative politics, and he does not see a major change in its influence over the 2000 presidential election.

``I don't think. . . there is any suggestion that the Christian Coalition is going to simply kidnap the Republican Party,'' he said. ``Whatever happens will be pretty acquiescent.''

He has long favored the legalization of drugs, arguing that that would eliminate the black market, reduce prices, and hence, reduce the crime that drug addicts commit for their fix.

And Buckley, a Roman Catholic, offered that the most troubling problem that faces America is fatherless children. Single parent families, he said, lead to crime, drugs and unemployment for children. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

William F. Buckley Jr. says, ``I didn't think of myself as having

any problems, other than buying Sunday's whiskey on Saturday.''

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