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

DATE: FRIDAY, January 6, 1995                   TAG: 9501060107
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Medium

BOUCHER MULLS 1996 RUN FOR U.S. SENATE

This time, it's 1996 against Sen. John Warner - or another Republican candidate, should the incumbent fall to internal party strife.

Boucher considered running in 1987, before Charles Robb entered the race and won his first term a year later. The Abingdon Democrat's name surfaced for '96 almost immediately after the November election, in which he easily won a seventh House term.

Talk among political operatives led to Boucher's name being included in a Nov. 12 Roanoke Times & World-News analysis of Virginia's election winners and losers. The article listed Boucher as a "winner" because he could be positioned for a '96 Senate run.

That story made the rounds of other political reporters and politicos, and Boucher said he soon found himself fielding phone calls from the media and from 50 to 60 potential supporters around the state.

"At some point in time, I will think about a possible Senate candidacy," Boucher said. "I am not giving consideration to it at this time."

Boucher has had a lock on the 9th District seat for a decade. Before that, he served eight years in the state Senate. But like most House members, he's not widely known outside his district and beyond party regulars. He'd face a challenge in selling himself to, and raising money from, residents of the more populous and prosperous swath of Virginia from Arlington to Virginia Beach.

And giving up his House seat would set off a scramble among would-be Democratic successors and experienced Republican politicians, such as state Sen. William Wampler, R-Bristol. Well-known GOP politicians in the 9th have sat out the last three challenges to Boucher, and instead allowed little-known beginners to run against the well-financed, well-known incumbent. Wampler is the son of the longtime House member Boucher defeated in his 1982 upset win.

"Ultimately, the decision I make will depend on where I can be the most effective," Boucher said.

The 48-year-old congressman said he will see how things go as a member of the minority party in the House. Boucher said he has always had good bipartisan working relationships with the Republicans on the House Commerce Committee, for instance.

"Weighing on it will be the question of whether it makes sense after achieving this level of seniority."