THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 20, 1994 TAG: 9410200432
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Real Politik
SOURCE: BY KERRY DOUGHERTY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Occasional dispatches on the offbeat side of Virginia's 1994 U.S. Senate race.
By Wednesday morning the panting political press was under a statewide bimbo alert.
For two days, rumors had been flying about Ollie North's mysterious news conference being staged at high noon in Virginia Beach. A ``Special Guest'' was promised.
North's press secretary, Mark Merritt, added to the intrigue with a note on the bottom of the announcement faxed to the media: ``THIS IS NOT ONE TO MISS.''
Would this be the moment for Tai Collins - a woman scorned - to step into the spotlight and finally tell all?
Or would it be one of the other ``half-dozen'' females referred to in Robb aide Steve Johnson's memo?
Reporters were pulled off stories to get to the North event. Local television canceled coverage of a Chapman-Pickett event to train their cameras on North.
Several dozen members of the press corps arrived at the Clarion Hotel on Bonney Road at the appointed time, pumped with adrenalin and anticipation for what promised to be the most explosive story of the race.
In the parking lot, news hounds from Washington, Richmond and Hampton Roads swapped rumors about the likelihood of a former virgin coming forward to help further tarnish Robb's image.
What they got instead was a bearded, bespectacled grandfather. David Jacobsen - a medical school administrator who was held hostage in Beirut by terrorists for 17 months in the mid-80s - followed North into the news conference.
``Ollie North risked his life going into the Middle East in an attempt to save mine,'' said Jacobsen, explaining why he was supporting the Iran-Contra figure. ``I thank God I'm alive. And I thank Ollie North I am free.''
Jacobsen seemed like a nice man. But when he stepped onto the stage, the disappointment was palpable. This was the event we weren't supposed to miss?
The North campaign was toying with the media. Jacobsen had flown to Washington from California on Tuesday night. Ollie's headquarters is nearby. Why not have the news conference up there?
Because by bringing the media event to Virginia Beach and by promising a surprise guest, the campaign got the press to expect sex, drugs and beauty queens. At least one out of three. What promised to be the hottest story in politics turned out to be just another day on the campaign trail.
North showed off his newest TV ad, featuring Jacobsen, but warned that if Robb persists in negative campaigning, North will respond with more negative ads of his own.
``I learned in the U.S. Marine Corps that you don't just sit there under incoming fire,'' North said, smiling. ``If Chuck Robb wants me to get the battleship Missouri and pull out the 16-inch guns, he knows what he has to do.''
But David Jacobsen is hardly the battleship Missouri.
You could almost hear the sigh of relief from Robb headquarters.
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE CAMPAIGN CANDIDATE by CNB