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

DATE: MONDAY, July 11, 1994                   TAG: 9407110139
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX                                LENGTH: Medium

CANDIDATES BACK NORTH, BUT FROM SAFE DISTANCE

Although Republican congressional candidates Kyle McSlarrow and Tom Davis endorse Oliver North's challenge to U.S. Sen. Charles Robb, their support for North this fall will be tepid at best, Republican activists said.

Supporters say that's because both McSlarrow, the challenger to Rep. James Moran, D-Alexandria, and Davis, who is taking on Rep. Leslie Byrne, D-Fairfax, need the votes of moderate and unaligned voters in the Washington, D.C., suburbs.

"Ollie North is far from middle-of-the-road, and this area is middle-of-the-road, a la Tom Davis," said Nancy Falck, a Fairfax County Republican who served two terms on the Board of Supervisors.

"The media coverage of North is not going to be favorable and will create a lot of negatives that are likely to land on all Republican heads," Falck said. "I'm hoping Tom is well enough known that people won't align him with Oliver North. He just doesn't need an anchor around his neck."

"I can overcome the disability at the top of the ticket," McSlarrow said. "I try not to think about the Senate race. I'm trying to remind people of the congressional race."

At the 1992 Republican national convention, Davis said a Senate campaign by North would be a "disaster for the party" and called North "unelectable" in 1994. But he said last week that North was "not a significant factor" in his congressional race.

"There's not a drag factor down," Davis said. "To tie the two of us together is very difficult."

North dismissed talk of any party schism developing in the month since he defeated Jim Miller for the nomination.

"I do not detect a sense of, `Well, I'm not going to back you,' " North said of Miller's supporters, many of whom were concentrated in Northern Virginia.

North did say Northern Virginia is a "very difficult climate and a very difficult area for Republicans and conservatives," largely because of the presence of the Washington Post and the area's proximity to the overwhelmingly Democratic District of Columbia.

by CNB