ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 3, 1996 TAG: 9611040085
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: politics congress
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE AND ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITERS
When Virginians elect a U.S. senator Tuesday, they will choose between a 69-year-old Capitol Hill patriarch with two decades of service and a 41-year-old technology whiz promising fresh ideas for the new millennium.
The dynamics of the Senate race have changed little since summer. But for the occasional detour - a biting attack by Mark Warner's campaign or the John Warner campaign's deception with a doctored photograph of his opponent - the candidates approach the election still pitching those virtues as their pre-eminent qualifications for the next six-year Senate stint.
Now, Sen. John Warner, the Republican, is swaggering around the state, confident that a fourth-term victory is a mere formality. He waves a bouquet of newspaper endorsements at every stop, each praising his independence and hailing him as Virginia's most powerful advocate in Washington.
"You have no Dewey-Truman story here, boys," he told reporters Thursday, referring to one of history's poll-defying upsets. "Don't even think about it. You won't get that scoop."
Democrat Mark Warner, meanwhile, dips deeper into his $100million cellular telephone fortune to spread his visionary message and knock the popular incumbent as out of touch with Virginians. He barnstormed around the state last week, fighting fatigue and scoffing at an independent poll in which he trailed by 15 points.
"If I believed that, I wouldn't be here," he said Friday in Danville. "I'd be somewhere drinking a beer."
Democrats don't discount the possibility of a Mark Warner victory. A poll conducted for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and released this weekend showed John Warner's lead had narrowed to 11 points. And Mark Warner's already lopsided favor among black voters could blossom further after an incident Friday that prompted his opponent to sever ties with a black campaign aide for using "the n-word" in a conversation with an NAACP official.
Mark Warner's supporters say those and other factors have lent the campaign considerable momentum in the closing days, particularly considering his willingness to ante up campaign funds like no Virginian candidate before him.
Mark Warner had shoveled at least $9million into his campaign by week's end, making his the second most expensive self-financed Senate campaign in American history. Michael Huffington of California spent $28million of his money two years ago in a losing effort.
Mark Warner has outspent the incumbent 5-to-1 in recent weeks, seeking to reach voters with a barrage of TV spots, radio ads and mail fliers. His message has become more biting as Election Day approaches.
One TV spot released last week rebukes John Warner for voting himself a pay raise, even though the 1991 initiative came from Capitol Hill Democrats and had the support of Democratic Sen. Chuck Robb of Virginia.
Mark Warner used the U.S. Postal Service for his most shrill attack, sending senior citizens a brochure featuring a pop-up house that represents John Warner's alleged answer to Medicaid: "SELL YOUR HOUSE."
"It looked like a Christmas card," said Cynthia White, a Chesapeake baby boomer and undecided voter whose mother received the mailing Thursday. "Then you open it, and it says you might lose your home. It was terrible. She was really frightened by it."
John Warner predicted that Virginians, who have known him for 18 years, would see through the Medicaid attack as a calculated attempt to scare senior citizens.
John Warner boasted that his standing among Virginia voters has remained firm, even with Mark Warner's TV attacks. The senator basked in a Mason-Dixon poll released last week showing him with a 15-point lead.
Mark Warner - hoarse and fighting a cold - flew around Southwest Virginia on Friday, rallying Democrats with news that his internal polls show him in a much stronger position, trailing by only six points.
He predicted that his nonstop schedule, his superior financial resources and a large black turnout would combine to catch John Warner napping.
"I hope John Warner sits back and stays confident," he said.
Between bursts of bravado, Mark Warner began to speak of his campaign in terms that transcend winning and losing. Speaking before 120 Danville Democrats, he reflected on his many blessings: three beautiful daughters, a supportive wife and financial success.
"If I'm not willing to stand up and fight for good schools, for student loans and for an America where opportunity is open to everyone, then I am not worthy of the blessings I have received," he said, his raspy voice rising.
The usually hyperkinetic challenger appeared pensive while driving between campaign stops. In Martinsville, he caught a ride with P.D. Howell, a funeral home operator who is active in local Democratic circles.
Howell offered words of comfort.
"Win, lose or draw," he said, "if you've done all you can do, then you can live with that."
John Warner, meanwhile, mingled outside the front gates of Newport News Shipbuilding, flashing a letter from the secretary of the Navy promising to fight for a new submarine, and the thousands of Virginia jobs that the project would secure.
"You've got to keep a watch out here, just like on a ship, to make sure someone else doesn't get these jobs," John Warner said for the cameras. "Every other member of the United States Senate would like to have what we have right here."
The three-term incumbent spent the election season's last days doing what his opponent cannot - trumpeting legislative accomplishments. A submarine here, a flood wall or highway there. Monday, he'll visit military sites in Hampton Roads. "It's where I got my start," he said. "I want to thank a lot of people down there."
And, of course, remind them that his Senate committee kept their paychecks coming, all thanks to some old-fashioned, back-slapping clout.
"You can't buy it," John Warner said in Richmond, campaigning before a luncheon crowd of Rotarians. "You have to earn it."
LENGTH: Long : 105 linesby CNB