Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 29, 1993 TAG: 9310290203
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG SCHNEIDER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CLARENDON LENGTH: Medium
"The climate has been tougher than anyone expected," Terry said, sitting in a Vietnamese cafe in this polyglot suburb of Washington, D.C. She was preparing to greet commuters at a subway stop, though it was after 5:30 p.m., and the rush hour had passed.
Timing has been the biggest unforeseen obstacle in her race for the Executive Mansion, Terry said. Virginia's climate of resentment of President Clinton, Gov. Douglas Wilder and 12 years of Democratic state leadership has hurt her much more than she anticipated.
"There's not been a level playing field for us since early summer, in terms of that climate," Terry said. The tilt, she said, has favored Republican George Allen's selling of himself as a fresh alternative.
Allen has traveled the state with increasingly popular national Republicans, including Jack Kemp, the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development, while Terry has stumped alone.
"That would not be my preference," she said. "It's just a fact of life."
One fact of the campaign that Terry would change if she could is the perception that she blew a big lead in the polls. If she could go back to May, she said, when one poll showed her with a 29-point lead, she would work harder to paint that apparent advantage as fantasy.
She knew all along it would be a close contest, she said, and made a mistake by allowing the public to see it as a horse race, with Allen gaining fast.
"It would have been nice not to have had to deal with the questions of, `What happened to your lead?' " she said.
Even so, Terry seemed to enjoy spending Thursday as the feisty underdog. At a morning news conference in Richmond to announce the support of a group of business and community leaders, Terry picked Mattaponi Chief Webster Custalow out of the crowd.
"Chief, come down and stand here with me," she said to the feather-bedecked triballeader. "We're on the warpath here today!"
She went on to bash Allen for not being straightforward about his views on giving tax breaks to parents with kids in private schools, on abortion rights and on gun control.
Her theme of the day established, Terry jetted to Norfolk for a whirlwind, lunchtime tour of the Waterside marketplace.
Zooming through crowds with her arm extended, Terry didn't even notice until after the fact that she had shaken hands with GOP lieutenant governor nominee Mike Farris. After each candidate spoke briefly to clutches of their respective supporters, Farris' backers followed Terry around the building.
Terry spent the evening in Northern Virginia and is expected back in Hampton Roads today. She is trying to concentrate on the state's biggest vote markets in the final days of the campaign.
Terry also is trying to enjoy the last stressful hours of the race. She was grooming for this even before being elected attorney general eight years ago.
"I feel remarkably good, particularly for all this last four to five weeks has brought. It has not been an easy time," she said. "But I know it has brought out the best in me. It has made me a stronger person. And it has made me a better candidate."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB