Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 17, 1994 TAG: 9407120070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: WARREN FISKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium
Virginia's four-way Senate race got off to a heated start Thursday as former state Attorney General Marshall Coleman announced his independent candidacy and was derided instantly as ``flip-flop Marshall'' by Republican Oliver North.
Coleman, a GOP nominee for governor in 1981 and 1989, said he is running because he believes Republicans should have an alternative to North, the central figure in the Iran-Contra affair. He said North's ``disdain'' for Congress would prevent him from being an effective senator.
Fifteen minutes later, North assembled reporters to denounce Coleman as a washed-up political hack.
``Lawyer, lobbyist, opportunist Marshall Coleman is a character who 17 years ago managed to get himself elected,'' North said. ``He's spent his entire life running for public office. `Just elect me,' is what he's saying. `Elect Marshall Coleman for blank.'
``He's flip-flopped on every major issue - even me,'' North said, referring to a 1988 fund-raising breakfast at which he spoke on Coleman's behalf. North read from Coleman's invitation to the event:
``Where would we be without men like Lt. Col. Oliver North, who sacrificed so much in the cause of the Reagan presidency?'' Coleman wrote. ``Oliver North has paid a price for his commitment to principle and devotion to duty, and it has been an unfair price. I believe Americans owe him our thanks ... ''
North laughed. ``I'm a fisherman, and we all know how fish flip and flop,'' he said. ``But it's hard to tell whether this is a flip or a flop.''
A spokesman for Coleman later explained that Coleman issued the invitation before North stood trial for his Iran-Contra activities.
``We've learned so much about Oliver North since then,'' said Anson Franklin, Coleman's campaign manager. ``Even Ronald Reagan, who once called North a hero, has more recently said that he's `pretty steamed' by North.''
So began the hardball competition between Coleman and North for the hearts of Republican voters this fall. North, with the backing of a conservative evangelical vote, won the GOP nomination at a state convention this month.
Coleman is offering himself as an alternative for moderate Republican and independent voters who believe North's admission that he lied to congressional investigators in 1986 makes him unacceptable for public office.
Joining them in the race are incumbent Democrat Charles Robb and former Democratic Gov. Douglas Wilder, who also is running as an independent.
Coleman, 52, was accompanied by U.S. Sen. John Warner, the leader of the moderate wing of the state GOP. Warner incurred the wrath of conservatives by encouraging Coleman to launch his independent candidacy and by denouncing North as untrustworthy.
``I am in many respects putting my political career at risk in Virginia,'' Warner said. ``But I believe strongly that the 3 million voters in this state deserve a Republican choice this year.''
Warner said his objections to North override his loyalty to the GOP.
``I have strong feelings against the old political maxim that to get along, you have to go along,'' he said. ``That means you slap anyone's sticker on your breast, march down Main Street and say, `Vote for this man,' when in your heart, you know that's not what you should do.''
Coleman defended his defection from the GOP by saying, ``Sometimes the political system doesn't work. Sometimes party loyalty can ask too much.''
He pledged to caucus with Republicans if elected, work closely with Warner and support a ``low-tax, small government'' agenda. Coleman said Robb's 94 percent voting record in support of the Clinton administration is out of touch with Virginians.
Coleman took exception to North's portrayal that he is a perennial candidate - and perennial loser - in statewide elections.
``I don't think it's a crime or something a person should be ashamed of to get involved in public service,'' he said. ``I will give the votes to my opponents of every Virginian who has never lost a race, never lost a girl, lost a campaign or lost a business proposition in his or her life, and still come out way ahead.
``I think the people of Virginia admire somebody who gets up off the mat and lives to fight another day.''
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB