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

DATE: SUNDAY, October 9, 1994                   TAG: 9410100072
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

VA. SENATE RACE EXCITES LENO, BUT LETTERMAN'S TUNED OUT

So Marshall Coleman wants to make Jay Leno and David Letterman into campaign issues? It seems only fair to let the late-night TV hosts have their say in return.

What do they make of Virginia's U.S. Senate race?

Letterman's people aren't too impressed. "David has maybe included it in a monologue once or twice," said a CBS spokesman." To say it's one of the leading sources of material would be incorrect. It's not a big topic of commentary on the show."

Letterman finds more humor in Marion Barry's winning the Democratic nomination for mayor of Washington, D.C., the CBS flak said.

Leno's a different matter.

Leno finds the Virginia campaign to be a wonderful source of material, said spokeswoman Jennifer Barrett. "I talked to Jay and asked him why. He said lying and infidelity are basic human feelings that people seem to understand, and he talked about how everyone can relate to that."

Leno says it's easy for politicians to give voters a snow job about their positions on the economy or foreign policy because they can present themselves as experts, Barrett said.

"But lying and infidelity - people have strong feelings either way."

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB