ROANOKE TIMES

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

DATE: THURSDAY, September 8, 1994                   TAG: 9409080075
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long


COLEMAN, WILDER TARGET ROBB

THE TWO INDEPENDENTS stepped up their tag-team attacks on U.S. Sen. Charles Robb on Wednesday, in what appeared to be a coordinated assault.

Marshall Coleman and Douglas Wilder were busy beating the same drum Wednesday, accusing U.S. Sen. Charles Robb of ``abuse of office'' for using his taxpayer-funded Senate staff to plot against political rivals - and investigate Robb's own personal life.

And, oh, yes, they still don't think much of Oliver North, either.

But the two independent Senate candidates' focus Wednesday seemed clearly to be on pressing their attacks against the Democratic incumbent Robb, and some political analysts saw that as a sign the two independents have decided to join forces.

``If Wilder and Coleman want to win, they clearly must team together to knock down one of the front-runners,'' said Virginia Tech political analyst Bob Denton. And after Robb's uneven performance in Tuesday's televised debate, they must have decided the easier candidate to eliminate is Robb, he said. ``They smell blood from last night, because Robb was the most beat-up.''

Denton, who was in the audience at Hampden-Sydney College, said he saw evidence during the debate that Wilder and Coleman were coordinating their attacks on Robb.

``There was discussion between Wilder and Coleman. Marshall would look over and say, `Doug, you're on this one.' Absolutely. When Robb would square off with North and try to make it into a two-person race, they would coordinate, then signal to [moderator] Judy Woodruff which one of them would answer.''

The tactical alliance between Wilder and Coleman may go back even further.

Coleman campaign manager Anson Franklin acknowledged Wednesday that the two independents had met privately for about a half-hour after a joint appearance in Norfolk a few weeks ago. ``They certainly talked politics - Marshall told me they also talked a lot about the baseball strike - but there was no joint planning,'' he said.

However, Franklin added, ``It's kind of logical, given the status of the campaign, and with Robb and North reeling because of the character issue in the debate, that they would pursue it the next day.''

University of Virginia political analyst Larry Sabato believes that's essentially confirmation that Wilder and Coleman, who faced each other in the 1989 governor's race, are in cahoots this time around.

``It's a tacit alliance that after that meeting may not be all that tacit,'' Sabato said. ``They want to collapse Robb's vote, because it's the only place the two independents can get votes from.''

Coordinated or not, Wilder and Coleman were pushing much the same line Wednesday, and targeting Robb harder than they were North.

Coleman was campaigning in Roanoke, where he predicted voters would eventually turn to him because Virginians ``do not want to replace one embarrassment with another.''

But he directed most of his fire at Robb.

Coleman renewed old charges about Robb's social life in the 1980s, where he attended parties where drugs allegedly were used. ``He has said [in an NBC interview in 1991] that he would condone limited illegal activity,'' Coleman said. ``He would condone the breaking of the law.''

Coleman also drew attention to the role Robb's staff played in making public an illegally taped cellular phone conversation between Wilder and a political associate. Three of Robb's staffers later pleaded guilty, although a federal grand jury in Norfolk declined to indict Robb himself. Coleman implied, as others have before, that the Bush administration went easy on Robb because he was a senator.

``I'm told this was the first time a high official of the Justice Department has gone before a local grand jury to say `You don't have to indict this man,''' Coleman said. The Justice Department wouldn't do that for an ordinary citizen, he said. ``That's a very big issue in this campaign.''

Even if Robb wasn't guilty of breaking a law, Coleman said, ``There's evidence of abuse of office. He's got memos from his staff telling him how to lie to the press. ... He's going around saying `I didn't get indicted.' Well, that's not OK. That's not a stable platform to run for the United States Senate on.''

In Richmond, Wilder also was hammering Robb, accusing him of ``misleading'' debate viewers by saying taxpayer money was never used to investigate or cover up stories about his personal life.

Wilder pointed to the court records in the plea agreement entered by two of Robb's aides, former state director Bobby Watson and former chief of staff David McCloud, that showed they were on Robb's Senate payroll when McCloud ``dispatched'' Watson to ``conduct an investigation'' about Robb's activities at Virginia Beach.

``Chuck Robb looked the people of Virginia in the eyes last night and continued to mislead them,'' Wilder said.

The Robb campaign did not respond to inquiries about the Coleman and Wilder charges, instead issuing a written statement that focused only on North.

Roanoke College political analyst Harry Wilson said that's to be expected, because Robb wants to treat the two independents ``as though they didn't exist.''

Wilson predicted that would force Wilder and Coleman to turn up their volume even louder in the weeks to come. ``I still think by Election Day, only two candidates will be standing - Robb and North.''

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