THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 2, 1994 TAG: 9410020037
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 125 lines
Seated last spring in his spacious high-rise office outside Washington, nationally recognized political consultant David Doak summed up his most prominent Virginia client.
Every successful politician has one thing at which he or she excels, said Doak, and with U.S. Sen. Charles S. Robb, the trait is timing: ``Every single time people think he's waiting too long, he turns out to be right.''
Democrats can only hope that Doak is prophetic, because from Hampton Roads to Tysons Corner to Big Stone Gap, party faithful are saying Robb has waited precariously long to move into high gear in his race against Republican Oliver L. North.
Many are urging him to revamp his strategy, to become dramatically more visible and aggressive. The change is needed, they say, not today or tomorrow, but yesterday.
``I think it's in trouble,'' Del. Glenn Croshaw, D-Virginia Beach, said of the Robb campaign. ``In Virginia Beach, I see no enthusiasm for Robb. . . . They need intense interest and passion quickly.''
In Charlottesville, University of Virginia law student Scott Bates also called for action. ``He will have to start matching North dollar-for-dollar pretty damn quick,'' said Bates, a former Secretary of the Commonwealth. ``It's OK to be behind four or five points, but if the margin gets more than that, the election could slip away.''
And in Northern Virginia, a member of the Democratic State Central Committee offered a terse assessment: ``A lot of people are nervous as hell.''
Robb has increased his tempo a bit recently, and in a joint campaign appearance Friday in Roanoke, Vice President Al Gore called North ``the colonel of untruth.''
But with Senate duties keeping Robb in Washington at least part of most days, North still has an advantage in the hand-shaking, back-slapping department. After a summer hiatus, Robb is airing television spots, but his purchased air-time remains roughly half that of North's. And, perhaps most perplexing to Democrats, an opponent they view as a dangerous commodity is coming across to many voters as a nice guy.
The most recent published poll, produced by Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research Inc., showed North leading Robb slightly, by 35-33 percent. But North's relative position had improved during a period when Robb was supposed to be picking up support from the withdrawal of independent candidate L. Douglas Wilder. And North's favorable ratings had surpassed Robb's.
The remaining independent, former state Attorney General J. Marshall Coleman, had 18 percent support in the Mason-Dixon survey.
Even the director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the fund-raising body for Senate Democrats, seemed to be backpedaling on the Robb strategy last week. It ``may have been a mistake,'' Donald Foley said, ``to assume that everybody out there saw Oliver North as the villain that we do.''
An even more blunt prescription for action came from Democratic National Committeewoman Mame Reiley of Alexandria. ``We all know that what's needed is for Chuck to come out and punch,'' she said. ``From this point on, it's the fight of his life. He has got to be hitting nonstop until there's a knockout.''
Not to worry, Doak said.
Starting this week, he said, Robb will have a television presence that will rival if not match the heavily bankrolled North through the end of the race. Even with North's relatively free rein on television and the campaign trail, Doak noted, the Republican remains slightly behind Robb in Democratic polling.
And, he said, the fact that Robb has bided his time in attacking North does not mean that he is unwilling or unable to do so.
``We have our plan of attack. We're comfortable with it. It's based on more research than most people have at their disposal,'' Doak said. ``There are a lot of things that people don't know about Oliver North, and in the course of this campaign, we'll get to them.''
Doak attributed much of the Democrats' nervousness to memories of the 1993 gubernatorial race, when Democrat Mary Sue Terry's hefty lead in polls evaporated in a rout by Republican George F. Allen.
But this year, he argued, is different. ``This race is close almost everywhere. The idea that this guy (North) is gaining any kind of huge acceptance is not warranted. There is no doubt that this guy can win the race, but the idea that he can take off and be another George Allen is wrong.''
If Robb is to win, he probably will need to forge a regional coalition similar to that which elected Wilder governor in 1989. Geographically, Wilder lost most of the state, but an outpouring of black support combined with heavy backing in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia let him eke out a 6,741-vote victory margin.
This year, grassroots organizers say Robb appears to be substantially ahead only in Northern Virginia, with other areas of the state looking more precarious. Downstate, many Democrats do not know Robb campaign manager Susan Platt, and others find her distant and brusque. There also are complaints that local campaign offices are poorly coordinated with one another.
An endorsement of Robb by Wilder could provide a boost, and it appears imminent. But it's indicative of the strained relations between the two that both camps say Robb did not ask point-blank for an endorsement when the pair held a well-publicized powwow last week.
With substantial numbers of voters disillusioned about Robb's extra-marital social life as governor a decade ago, the best rallying point for Democrats almost certainly remains North.
But someone in the Robb camp needs to start making the case against North more aggressively - and soon, said state Del. Jackie Stump, a coalfield Democrat.
``Definitely somebody is going to have to bring out the actual issues: Who is Oliver North?'' Stump said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/Staff file
Sen. Charles S. Robb meets with supporters Wednesday in Norfolk.
Supporters worry that Robb won't be able to regain ground he has
lost to Republican challenger Oliver L. North.
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE VIRGINIA CANDIDATES
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