Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 19, 1993 TAG: 9310190197
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BONNIE V. WINSTON and GREG SCHNEIDER STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The group of undecided voters from the Richmond area saw the campaign for governor up close Monday. They were selected as the audience in the 1993 replay of last year's Richmond presidential debate.
A surprise apparently to both campaigns was the voters' obvious interest in education. The candidates have focused on crime and economic development throughout the campaign, but the audience repeatedly asked about schools.
A sampling of comments from those who had the chance to ask questions during the hour-long televised encounter:
Jim Fajohn, a 42-year-old computer analyst from Chesterfield County, asked the first question in the debate - about outcome-based education. Neither candidate satisfied him.
"I'm still undecided. They pretty much reiterated what they had said in the past," he said. "I don't think the format allowed them to get into very much depth."
Fajohn said he always is careful in deciding on a candidate in an election, "but I've usually decided by this point. I have concerns about both candidates. I think Mr. Allen has some rather simplistic answers that I'm not sure reveal a lot of depth on the issues. On the other hand, Mary Sue Terry seems to be continuing the old policies and not showing much initiative."
Monday's debate wasn't long enough to settle either of those concerns. "It was really an opportunity for sound bites more than anything else," Fajohn said. "The contention both had that neither answered the questions initially swayed in Mr. Allen's favor. But then later he really didn't answer a question she had. . . . But I think that swung back more in her direction. . . . Neither one really gained an advantage over the other."
Steve Strunk, a psychologist with the state Department of Youth and Family Services, said he came in leaning toward Allen but left less certain.
"What I didn't like were all the little digs he kept trying to get in, especially after he opened by asking her to take a pledge against negative campaigning," Strunk said.
He said Terry earned high marks from him for "maintaining her composure" and called Monday night her strongest performance in any of the debates.
"But to be perfectly honest, she's too wrapped up in cliche - like `Move the state forward.' I thought after the first debate if I heard her say that one more time, I'd barf."
Strunk said he voted Democratic in last year's presidential election, but likes Allen's family-values message this year.
Carolee Duncan, one of the five people who actually got to question the candidates, said she was leaning toward Allen before the debate but toward Terry afterward.
"It was her view on education for at-risk children, which is a big thing in the city. And it was how she presented herself overall," said Duncan. "I felt he [Allen] was a little more aggressive."
"George Allen was giving more direct answers but hasn't really backed it up with [the] years of service that Mary Sue Terry has had," said Rick Pfamatter, 25, of Richmond, another questioner.
Pfamatter graduated last year from Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree in mass communications, the first in his family with a college degree. But aside from a part-time job at a local radio station - from which he was laid off this year - Pfamatter has had no luck finding work in his field. He now is waiting on tables.
Pfamatter said both candidates did a fair job of answering his plea for work and a future; "both seemed to answer very similarly," he observed. "But it's very easy to say you're going to do more. For me, it's what's going to happen in four years."
Lois Sokolow of Henrico County, who has worked in home restorations but now works part time in public relations, said she had no preference going into the debate but came out favoring Terry.
"I feel like I'm going to go with Mary Sue because of her education and the fact that I believe in sex education. We definitely need that, and these unwanted teen pregnancies definitely need to stop," said Sokolow, the mother of a teen-age son and daughter.
Sokolow also came away troubled by hints that Allen might be aligned with religious broadcaster Pat Robertson. "I would say he's ultra-conservative, and if there is a link, I don't like it. I'm also very much pro-choice. I feel that is an issue that should definitely be out of the government's hands."
Cheryl Miller, 43, an American Airlines flight attendant, said she was turned off by Allen's references to his family and families in general.
"He kept saying he's a family candidate," Miller said. "But much of America doesn't have the same family he comes from.
"He didn't answer the question when he was asked about teen pregnancy. I was taking notes and he didn't answer many of the questions at all. And he said nothing about choice, but parental involvement. Well, a lot of people don't come from situations where they can get their parents involved in something like that."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB