Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 4, 1993 TAG: 9307040016
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CAROLYN CLICK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It was a joke she actually picked up from a fellow Democrat, one that poked a little fun at Robb and subtly recollected rumors regarding the senator's wild social life when he was governor.
But then, as she went around the state the past few months asking Democrats to consider choosing Clute her as the party's nominee next year, she realized "people don't want to hear that from me."
In fact, Clute told the reporter the joke only on the condition it would not be printed.
Clute, a Richmond lawyer and advocate for adult survivors of child sexual abuse, is hoping to attract a different kind of voter in her long-shot bid to unseat Robb.
She's hoping most Virginians are tired of the sex-and-drugs allegations against Robb that are churned up periodically and weary of the vendetta waged by Gov. Douglas Wilder against his fellow Democrat.
Wilder, who said recently he intends to run for the U.S. Senate either as a Democrat or as an independent, has feuded with Robb for years.
Clute, who was banking on Wilder's entrance in the race, said she will let the two of them trade personal barbs while she offers a reasoned approach to good government. The winner of the nomination fight likely will take on Republican Oliver North, the former Marine colonel who was a central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal.
Clute has raised only $20,000, not enough for a poll she had hoped to commission in June to determine how viable her candidacy would be. But she said the question of her candidacy was answered affirmatively in early May - without her having to spend a dime.
A poll conducted by Mason-Dixon Opinion Research in Columbia, Md., for WTVR Television in Richmond found Robb would beat Wilder, 43 percent to 35 percent. While Clute garnered only 9 percent, that was enough to show her there was potential in an alternative candidacy. Thirteen percent of those polled were undecided.
Despite her optimism, Clute is not seen by political analysts as having much chance against the two political heavyweights.
"There could potentially be an opportunity for a candidate to trade on the high negatives of Robb and Wilder," said Virginia Commonwealth University political scientist Robert Holsworth. But he said that person would have to have better name recognition, more money and a more expansive organizational base than Clute has mustered so far.
The Democrats, who are concentrating on statewide races this fall, will not decide until next year whether to choose their U.S. Senate candidate by primary or convention. A convention forum would favor Robb. Robb's election as governor in 1981 restored the Democrats to a decade of dominance, and he is still a favorite among party brass despite his spate of political troubles.
Wilder has all but conceded he would be an underdog in a convention and has said he would leave the party and run as an independent to ensure Robb is not re-elected.
Despite those hurdles, Clute said she would prefer a convention because it would prevent a Democratic bloodbath. She said she plans to continue traveling around the state in an attempt to win delegates one by one.
She wasn't pleased with President Clinton's endorsement of Robb last week. On Saturday, she sent a letter to Clinton that said, in part, "For a Democratic president to inject himself into a senate race before grass roots Democrats have expressed their preference . . . is a serious breach of the integrity of the democratic process. Sen. Robb had no right to expect favoritism of you. Gov. Wilder and I both have a right to expect fairness from you."
She urged Clinton to withdraw the endorsement.
Clute believes in incremental progress, having survived two decades of lobbying a predominantly male General Assembly on issues of concern to women.
It took her years, but she was able to enact changes in marriage, divorce and property laws. She has been working the past few years to expand the legal rights of adult survivors of child sexual abuse.
She keeps her costs low by operating her campaign out of her law office and driving herself to campaign appearances and meetings with newspapers. She said editors are often surprised to see her walk through the door without the usual political entourage.
But she thinks her approach may be working.
In late June, after a meeting with the editorial board of The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, editorial page editor Larry Evans described Clute in print as "a calm, reasonable woman who would offer an antidote to those sometimes emotional men."
That didn't quite amount to an endorsement, but Clute saw it as the kind of publicity she needs.
"When the newspapers say I'm the logical one and the men are emotional, you can't get much better than that," she said.
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB