ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, June 3, 1996 TAG: 9606030112
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
Bob Dole got dragged into the Virginia Republicans' quarrelsome Senate campaign Sunday.
First, Gov. George Allen publicly fretted that the nomination contest between Sen. John Warner and challenger Jim Miller might hurt Dole's chances of carrying Virginia in the presidential race this fall - and urged Republicans not to create "some errant flap" that would involve Dole's campaign.
But moments later, Miller warned that Dole will hurt his standing with Republican activists if he makes a scheduled appearance in Northern Virginia on Saturday on Warner's behalf.
"I think it hurts Bob Dole to show any particular affection for John Warner," Miller said, especially now that the state GOP convention in Salem this weekend expressed a 3-1 preference for Miller in a straw poll.
Miller also contended that Dole will have a tougher time winning Virginia if Warner is the Senate nominee because Republican activists will have so little enthusiasm to work for the entire ticket. "I'll have the whole party behind me, and Warner won't have a party with him," Miller said. "I don't think they'll work for John Warner."
Warner's campaign dismissed Miller's remarks as "political hyperbole" and Dole's campaign in Washington declined comment.
But the invocation of Dole's name by the governor, the Senate contenders, and other prominent Republicans throughout the state convention this weekend - each making the case why the all-but-confirmed presidential nominee would be hurt if the other side wins the June 11 Senate primary - seemed certain to rachet up the national attention focused on the race.
The Miller-Warner campaign is a struggle between between party activists who say they alone should control the nomination process and those who advocate broader participation through a primary election open to all voters.
Divisions within the party were apparent Sunday at the traditional post-convention "unity" breakfast at the Hotel Roanoke. Warner was absent, as he was throughout the convention, although his top aide, Susan Magill, appeared at the head table in his place. She said the senator was attending his grandson's birthday party.
Allen, who is staying neutral in the Senate contest, used the event to talk up Dole's presidential campaign, but volunteered his concern that the primary campaign could hurt Dole's effort to make up the lead President Bill Clinton has held in some recent polls in the Old Dominion. "Let's not drag Bob Dole's campaign into an intra-squad scrimmage here in Virginia," he said. "We don't need anything in Virginia to knock it off stride."
Afterward, Allen said he made his remarks because he was "worried" by some of the things he had "heard" second-hand were said at Saturday's Republican convention at the Salem Civic Center. Allen wouldn't elaborate, although the main reference to Dole on Saturday came in Oliver North's stem-winding speech, in which he warned that Clinton might carry Virginia if Republicans renominate Warner.
"It would worry me if that comment did make print," Allen said.
About thirty minutes later, though, in an impromptu appearance on the hotel's front steps, Miller repeated North's contention - and then suggested Dole should back out of Saturday's scheduled appearance with Warner and retired Gen. Colin Powell in McLean.
"The reason is, by a 3-1 margin, the Republican Party, the average Republican Party, the delegates selected by the party, say John Warner should be rejected," Miller said.
"So I think it hurts Bob Dole to show any particular affection for John Warner, and I suspect his staff is telling him that. I don't think Bob Dole being there in McLean is going to have any substantive effect [on the Senate campaign], but in Bob Dole's interest, it would be better for him not to."
Miller said Virginia Republicans understand why, as a fellow senator, Dole has endorsed Warner. "It's part of the club. He's done the obligatory thing," Miller said. But now that the state Republican convention has gone on record so strongly against Warner, Dole should honor their wishes, Miller said.
Warner spokesman Eric Peterson countered that "it's unfortunate Dr. Miller isn't responsive to the governor's urgings" and again repeated Warner's contention that "a handful of activists" at the state convention don't speak for all of Virginia's Republican-leaning voters.
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshots) Allen, Miller. KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESSby CNB