Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 25, 1993 TAG: 9310250068
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
Democrat Shuler, 49, and Republican Rush, 25, have made more than a half-dozen joint appearances in the 12th House District. They compliment each other. They call each other by first names. They talk issues. They disagree. But they don't make personal attacks.
"I'm not like that," Rush said. "I don't mind pointing out the differences . . . [but] as far as the name-calling and that, I'm not going to get into that."
Shuler finds negative advertising and campaigning repugnant. "This has been a positive election process," he said.
Voters seem to be responding to the Mr. Nice Guys approach.
At a Thursday forum in Blacksburg, several audience members thanked the men for running a clean campaign. It wasn't the first time they'd heard such a sentiment.
When they've gone after each other, they've done it with wit. Shuler, in particular, has a dry sense of humor.
Thursday night, for instance, Shuler explained that 20 years of running his veterinary clinic, his work on Blacksburg Town Council and his time on the state Board of Health give him an edge.
"That's not to disparage Nick - I like Nick. I just want him to go through a few more life experiences," Shuler said.
Rush, who usually speaks without notes, used self-deprecating humor: "My mom told me if I don't know [the answer to a question], to just tell you I don't know and get back with you."
Based on the district's demographics, its voting history and the most recent campaign finance reports, Shuler should be the hands-down favorite.
He's a Blacksburg resident and Virginia Tech graduate in a district where the bulk of the voters - some 60 percent - live in the Blacksburg area.
He's endorsed by Del. Joan Munford, D-Blacksburg, who is retiring after serving in the House of Delegates since 1982 - and defeating five Republicans since 1981.
As of Sept. 30, he had raised five times more money than Rush and had nearly $14,500 left to spend, compared with his opponent's $2,300.
But Rush, a former sergeant in the 82nd Airborne Division, has been on the offensive.
"I'm a real action-oriented guy; that's what being a paratrooper did for me," he said.
He acknowledges that he's the underdog, but said Friday he felt his shoestring-financed campaign was "going real well.
"I'm getting the same feeling I did two years ago," Rush said.
That's when he upset Democrat Ann Hess, the two-term District B incumbent on the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors.
Rush credits his wife, Amy, and his campaign manager, Montgomery School Board member Barry Worth, for pushing him to go out and campaign on evenings after he had worked a full day as a delivery driver for Federal Express.
Rush took the last three weeks off without pay to campaign full time but is going back to work this week.
His job became an issue, of sorts, when he disclosed last week that a Federal Express official had told him he couldn't take the amount of time off he would need to attend the 60-day General Assembly and would lose his job if he won the election.
He has said since then that he believes he would be able to work out an arrangement with his employer if he wins.
Munford said Friday she felt it's "a shame" that Federal Express had taken such a position. However, she said, being a delegate involves much more time than just the 45-day or 60-day regular sessions.
Even in slow periods, she has averaged a minimum of two trips to Richmond a month, Munford said.
"It's very, very time-consuming, if you do a good job and try to do the things your constituents ask of you," she said.
For the final eight days of the campaign, Shuler said he will continue to stick with his major theme of improving education at all levels and using savings from prison and health-care reform to support higher education.
"We feel good," Shuler said Friday. "We're not assuming anything. We're staying right on our plan."
Rush points toward economic development and low taxes to help the economy grow and provide more revenue to pay for higher education and other needs.
He has also taken a strong stand against a project near and dear to the hearts of Virginia Tech officials: the proposed "smart" highway between Blacksburg and Interstate 81 north of Christiansburg.
Though favored by Tech and local governing bodies for the millions in research money it could bring to the region, environmentalists and others oppose it as an example of profligate government spending that could ruin scenic Ellett Valley.
Rush would rather see Tech's research applied to a road the region needs, such as the proposed connector between the Blacksburg and Christiansburg bypasses.
Shuler has said he cannot comment on the issue, because his clinic sits on land the state would have to condemn for the project.
Rush also differs sharply with Shuler's belief that the state should look into alternative sentencing for nonviolent offenders and put more emphasis on substance-abuse treatment and rehabilitation rather than on building more prisons.
At a forum last week before the Virginia Tech chapter of Phi Delta Kappa, Rush jumped in when Shuler said that by locking nonviolent offenders in with hardened criminals, "all you do is make a better criminal out of them."
"Tell that to the parents of the 11-year-old girl" killed last month in Botetourt County, Rush said. Billy R. Layne, charged with capital murder in connection with the abduction and slaying of Phadra Carter, was paroled in December after serving time for a series of burglary and larceny convictions.
"I don't want to argue with you," Shuler said. "But there will always be exceptions and special cases."
Rush said his question for the district's approximately 17,000 voters is simple: "Do you want to continue doing the same things we've been doing, or do you want to change?"
Shuler believes his opponent is sincere: "I feel that Nick is just as concerned about the welfare and the needs of the 12th District as I am. I just feel that with my experiences . . . I'm the more qualified to represent the district in Richmond."
Shuler may also have the better wardrobe.
Rush said he bought his only suit two years ago for a Board of Supervisors campaign forum. He has been wearing it to nearly every campaign forum this fall, although he varies the ties.
He made one new campaign pledge Friday:
"If I'm elected, I'll get another suit."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB