
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, December 23, 1993                   TAG: 9312230142
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

TOP REAGAN AIDES FIGHT NORTH ELECTION

Top aides to former President Reagan do not support former colleague Oliver North's bid for the Senate from Virginia, and many are actively helping a North rival, The New Yorker reported this week.

"The Virginia Senate race has generated near-unanimity on the part of these Reaganites against North," author Jeffrey Toobin wrote. "They have expressed their disaffection by backing his opponent for the Republican nomination, Jim Miller."

Miller, Reagan's budget director, announced last week he is a candidate for the seat held by Democratic Sen. Charles Robb. North, a former White House aide who became the best-known figure in the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal, is expected to announce his candidacy after Jan. 1.

North was fired when the scandal broke in 1987. It centered on secret arms sales to Iran and the illegal diversion of the proceeds to fund rebels fighting the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua.

Toobin, a former assistant prosecutor on the staff of Iran-Contra independent counsel Lawrence Walsh, interviewed North several times for the New Yorker piece.

Toobin said North, with enormous name recognition, has an even chance of taking the seat from Robb or Gov. Douglas Wilder, both of whom plan to run for the Democratic nomination.

North considers the nomination sewn up and is unconcerned about lack of support from former Reagan officials, Toobin wrote.

"We're working on setting up an organization for the general election now," North said.

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB