THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 19, 1994 TAG: 9410190460
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARGARET EDDS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FREDERICKSBURG LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
Oliver L. North told a group of conservative Christians on Tuesday that he has yanked a television ad charging that Sen. Charles S. Robb ``lived a lie'' - partially because the Republican challenger's mother disliked it.
But North, who later told reporters that his wife ``wasn't wild about it'' either and that the ad had ``pretty much run its course,'' also refused to swear off negative advertising.
``We have the battleship Missouri ready to go,'' he said. North and aides refused to say what's in a new ad that was scheduled to begin airing Tuesday or today across Virginia.
``It's a very good ad - stay tuned,'' said Dan McLagan, a North press spokesman.
North's comments came at the close of an uncharacteristically quiet-toned speech that seemed to stand as a religious or philosophical manifesto for his campaign. Gone were the strident epithets like ``yahoo'' and ``boneheaded,'' and while North called for a return to government based on biblical values, he noted that one of those values is forgiveness.
``Every one of us is a frail, flawed human,'' he told several hundred members of the Christian Leadership Forum, a group of Fredericksburg-area pastors.
After limiting his media appearances for the past week - a fact noted in a story on Tuesday's broadcast of ``Nightline'' on ABC - North appeared more rested than he has in some time.
Referring to the television ad, he said it's time to ``see whether theycan get beyond the negativity in the campaign. . . . We'll have a different ad up tonight and I know that's going to make people feel better.''
He said that his mother, who lives in upstate New York, had called him to say that she didn't like the last ad, which showed a Playboy magazine cover and tried to connect Robb to women and drugs.
With members of the audience yelling ``preach it!'' and ``help take our country back,'' North said that ``since this country abandoned faith in our creator and looked to government for every solution, the country has gone straight down the tubes.''
Criticizing President Clinton and other Democrats for branding the religious right as ``fanatics'' and ``card-carrying members of the flat-Earth society,'' North insisted that ``that kind of religious bigotry has no room in American politics.''
People who, like him, believe in the literal truth of the Bible and in government based on religious principles should be respected, not demonized, he said. ``Who are they to criticize people who feel strongly about their religious heritage?'' he said.
But North also urged Christian conservatives to be more inclusive when it comes to political campaigns. Telling a story about accepting support from a pro-choice voter, he said that elections cannot be won ``unless we reach out to bring people in.''
Decrying what he saw as a decline in moral values that began during the Great Society in the 1960s, North said, ``The people need to stand both in outrage and in very strong statement of what we believe.''
He held up a Bible and said that what he believes is ``based on the principles contained in this book.'' North also credited his personal code to a list of basic virtues in a best-selling book by former Education Secretary William Bennett: self discipline, responsibility, friendship, compassion, work, honesty, courage, loyalty and faith. He said those tenets are ``endorsed by every religion on this planet.''
``I do not feel ashamed to invoke the fact that I feel strongly in my religious heritage,'' he said.
Responding to questioning and underscoring the fact that the issue of whether he lied to Congress remains a problem even for some ardent admirers, North gave a lengthy explanation of his role in the Iran-Contra affair and his testimony before Congress. As he has done before, he insisted that he never lied under oath but admitted that he was not fully forthcoming before an earlier congressional committee. ``I knew those were not fully truthful answers. . . . I followed the instructions I understood at the time.''
North also claimed that his campaign's internal polling shows him with a slight lead in the race.
Robb, stumping earlier in the day in Charlottesville, claimed that his own polling shows North trailing.
Robb also sounded resigned to negative campaigning. ``I regret to say that as appeals to vote for somebody,'' he said to a group of reporters.
The senator then proceeded to hammer North again on the matter of two Swiss bank accounts that list North and his family as the beneficiaries of more than $2 million left over from the arms-trading portion of the Iran-Contra affair.
For North to ``suggest he knew nothing about it - I mean, give me a break. period of time he served on the National Security Council . . . and a lot of people are concerned about lying that took place since then.''
Independent candidate J. Marshall Coleman, who also appeared Tuesday in Charlottesville, is counting on negative campaigning to tear down the two party candidates so that he can emerge as the alternative. MEMO: Staff writer Greg Schneider contributed to this report.
KEYWORDS: CANDIDATE U.S. SENATE RACE
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