Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 20, 1994 TAG: 9403200116
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
To heck with Ronald Reagan.
No matter if the icon of conservative Republicans calls Oliver North a liar, Floyd Hancock's still going to support him. Wholeheartedly.
"I think this man did what he was asked to do," said Hancock, defending North's actions in the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages deal, as he waited outside Roanoke's City Council chambers for the party's mass meeting to begin Saturday.
"You'll never convince me that Ronald Reagan didn't know what was going on," he said, then turned to shake hands with North and to promise him his support.
It remains to be seen how much impact a recent letter, in which former President Reagan wrote that he was "pretty steamed" at North for falsely implicating him in the Iran-Contra diversion, will have on Virginia Republicans as they prepare to select a candidate for this year's U.S. Senate race for the seat now held by Democrat Charles Robb.
Republicans in eight Western Virginia localities selected delegates Saturday who will vote at the party's June 4 convention in Richmond, choosing between North and Reagan's former budget director, Jim Miller. By April 1, the selection process will be completed statewide.
But since none of the delegates officially commits to a candidate until the convention, it's impossible to say at this point which way the votes will fall.
Miller, whose supporters released Reagan's letter to the media, said the popular ex-president's unprecedented involvement in local party politics was hurting North.
"We're getting a lot of people calling to switch support to me," Miller said.
North supporters claim just the opposite.
"If it does have impact, I think it will have more of a backlash," said Don Duncan, 6th District party chairman and a North supporter. "Reagan is revered as a president, no doubt, but the people of Virginia are going to decide who gets the nomination. We resent people at that level trying to get involved."
Others think Reagan has been misled by the Miller campaign into believing that North implicated him. North says he never did. He said statements he made in his book, "Under Fire," that Reagan "knew everything" were taken out of context.
What he wrote, and what North has been telling people, is that he assumed that Reagan knew what was going on because his orders to illegally divert funds to the contras came from people who reported directly to the president, North said.
"I would never have done any of the things that I did had I thought for a moment that he hadn't approved," he said.
The Reagan letter certainly didn't sway Shirley Morfesi's opinion of North. Like most of the 80 or so other people who showed up for the Republican mass meeting in Roanoke County, she came out steadfastly behind the former Marine lieutenant colonel.
North earned a standing ovation from county Republicans, who posted his signs all over the auditorium at Cave Spring Junior High School. The crowd clapped and cheered loudly when he told them he would comply with Republican Sen. John Warner's request to step out of the race - but only after he finished serving his second term in Congress.
The enthusiastic support may have been misleading. Morfesi said Saturday's meeting was poorly attended compared to past meetings, and she attributed the low turnout to Republicans who might have been upset with North because of Reagan's harsh words.
"I've been to mass meetings in Roanoke County where you just couldn't get through the door," she said.
Still, county Chairman Al Thomason - who backs North - estimated his candidate had two-thirds of the votes from county delegates, many of whom registered but did not come to the meeting. Miller supporters didn't supply an estimate, but conceded North was the favorite in Roanoke County.
They put Miller in the lead in the city, guessing that he would earn 60 percent of the vote from Roanoke delegates. North supporters are calling that race much closer, estimating an even split.
It was too tough to call by the applause from city Republicans, which was polite but not overly enthusiastic for either candidate. Roanoke Republican Party Chairman William Fralin, who won't announce his pick for the nomination for another few days, said it was "hard to tell" which candidate the crowd favored.
One person who did seem to be losing support as a result of North's most recent controversy was Warner.
"It would be very difficult to support him now," Thomason said, in light of Warner's attacks on North.
"I don't even consider him a Republican anymore," Hancock said. He added that he had called Warner to ask him to resign after Warner asked North to leave the race.
"Republicans don't shoot other Republicans in public," Hancock said.
If the Republicans want to avoid controversy, Miller said he has a simple solution - elect him.
With Robb weakened by allegations of marital infidelity, the Republicans need a candidate who is controversy-free, Miller told party members.
"If I am the candidate, he [Robb] will be the issue. If my opponent is the candidate, my opponent will be the issue," he said.
Elect him, Miller said in closing, "and we'll have a fun-filled summer and fall nailing Chuck Robb."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB