THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 28, 1994 TAG: 9409280467
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
Several liberal-oriented interest groups are promoting their fund-raising efforts via a new poster child - Republican Senate nominee Oliver North.
North has been the featured antagonist in recent direct-mail fund-raising appeals by groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Human Rights Campaign Fund, a national gay political action group based in Washington.
North also is sardonically depicted these days as the ``Salesman of the Month'' in a print advertisement from the small newspaper, ``Liberal Opinion Week.''
The ad, which is appearing in several small national magazines, says the rise of North leaves ``truly discerning readers longing for crisp, intelligent commentary from a liberal point of view.''
David Archie, president of the 5,300-subscriber, Vinton, Iowa-based newspaper, said there are several other prominent leaders of the right wing, such as talk show host Rush Limbaugh and Republican Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina, but North is the one with the pithiest, most intolerant statements.
``He seems to inflame liberals more than anyone else we can think of,'' Archie said.
Left wing activists say they are frightened by the Iran-Contra figure's affiliation with the Christian conservative movement and his hostility toward homosexuals and minorities.
They also are quaking at the notion that North - who is in a statistical dead heat with Democratic Sen. Charles S. Robb in a new poll - might win. Polls show independent Marshall Coleman is trailing the two party candidates by a wide margin.
The ACLU recently sent out a fund-raising appeal to about one million people nationwide that focuses largely on North's campaign. The letter, signed by ACLU Executive Director Ira Glasser, says North is ``a man who has demonstrated his hostility to democratic values.''
A New York Times column by writer Frank Rich that attacks North and the religious right also is included in the mailing. In the column's margins, Glasser writes: ``Please join the ACLU today and help us stop them while there is still time.''
North spokesman Mark Merritt said liberal-oriented groups are fighting North because they know he would fight many of the programs they support.
``They know that when Ollie North makes it to Washington, he's going to fight the Clinton-Robb agenda tooth and nail,'' Merritt said.
KEYWORDS: FUND-RAISING CAMPAIGN by CNB