Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 23, 1994 TAG: 9405230061
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Warren Fiske
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
One of Doggett's drinking companions just happened to be the man who controlled the flow of those plates - Larry Murphy, chief of staff to then-Gov. John Dalton. They made a bet. If Doggett, a master mimic, could call the executive mansion and convince the governor's wife that he was President Carter, the license plates would be his.
A few minutes later, with the governor's complicity, Edwina Dalton was on the phone. "Edduh," Doggett said in a soft Georgian drawl, "This is Jimmuh Cahta. Rosalynn and ah just heard you broke yaw toe and we wuh wonderin' how you're doin."
For five minutes, Dalton described the complexities of a big toe she had fractured days earlier and chatted about her children before discovering the ruse. And for years afterward, Doggett proudly displayed the license plates "B69" on his Honda.
If you're not deeply involved in state politics, chances are you've never heard of Henry Doggett, 39, a cordial farm boy from near Smithfield with a mischievous grin. But to thousands of insiders, especially from the Republican Party, Doggett's charm and his pranks are legendary.
He's a modern-day Huck Finn in a business suit, designer tie and an ever-present trace of cologne. For years, he's made his living as the personal traveling companion to Republican statewide candidates. It's his job to keep them on time, relaxed and briefed.
These days, he drives a Ford Taurus with the license plate "RIDN RND." Since leasing the car last December, he's logged 30,000 miles shuttling Jim Miller, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate, around the state.
Doggett - whose roommate at William and Mary was another aspiring Republican politico, future Fincastle state Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo - began the work in the mid-1970s. He's taken time off to do stints as an assistant trainer for the Washington Redskins, as executive director of the Alaska Republican Party and in a few desk jobs in Washington and Tennessee. But he always returns to Virginia to travel up to 100 hours a week, eat on the run and live in hotels.
"I've never known what I really wanted to do," says Doggett, who never accepts an office job if his candidate wins and who lives on his parents' farm between campaigns. "I've never wanted a desk job; they drive me crazy. I like traveling around and meeting people."
The candidates find him a valuable companion. "He knows everyone in the Republican Party and everyone likes him," says Buster O'Brien, who ran for attorney general in 1985. "He can get you access anywhere. He knows what people are saying."
Most of all, they like his wit. He keeps everyone loose and smiling. He avoids the ideological battles that have divided the GOP.
Doggett makes $3,000 a month for his efforts, plus expenses. But the real payoff, he says, is knowing that he can visit almost any hamlet in the state and have a friend to call on, a couch to sleep on and a funny story to tell.
Like the one about the night he tried to drive U.S. Sen. John Warner back to his home in Middleburg. Warner got lost and kept ordering Doggett to take right turns. After an hour of traveling in a wide circle, Doggett suggested they stop for directions. "You go as I tell you," Warner bellowed, his head and shoulders leaning outside the passenger window. "I'm an old Navy man. I'm navigating by the moon."
When a magazine listed Warner as the sixth-most eligible bachelor in Washington, Doggett took to calling him "Old No. 6." Warner thought he knew why. "It's because I was Elizabeth Taylor's sixth husband, right?" Warner said.
Oliver North, the Republican front-runner in this year's Senate race, has told Doggett he'd be interested in hiring him after the GOP state convention. "After June 4, maybe you and I will have a chance to travel together," North told Doggett recently.
"Why sure, colonel," Doggett replied. "We'll always keep a seat open for you on the Jim Miller-for-Senate plane."
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB