THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 24, 1994 TAG: 9410240039
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: - David M. Poole
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
Buenos dias, everybody
U.S. Sen. Charles S. Robb made a stab at multicultural campaigning Saturday when a number of Hispanic families lined the streets near the staging area of the Herndon parade.
Perched on the back of a limousine, Robb worked in ``Buenos dias'' a few times as he waved to the parade watchers.
One dark-skinned man who got the Spanish greeting was Shahid Syed, a local businessman who is from Pakistan. Syed didn't appear to take offense. ``I support Mr. Robb,'' he said.
Holton still on the wall
So far, former Gov. Linwood Holton has avoided a purge at the state Republican Party headquarters in Richmond.
Holton - the pioneer who became Virginia's first GOP governor this century - has shunned U.S. Senate candidate Oliver L. North, and party chairman Patrick McSweeney suggested recently that he may remove a larger-than-life photograph of Holton from the headquarters lobby.
``We will have to take appropriate action,'' McSweeney told reporters a few weeks ago.
Later last week, however, Holton's photo was still displayed alongside his three GOP successors: Mills Goodwin, John Dalton and George F. Allen.
Common threads
President Bill Clinton got some unintended laughs last Friday night in defending his record against the claim by Republican House Whip Newt Gingrich of Georgia that Clinton is an ``enemy of normal Americans.''
Speaking to 700 Democrats in Alexandria, Clinton noted that he and Robb had fought to reduce the deficit, expand low-interest college loans and make it easier for working parents to get leave to care for sick children.
``What is it that we object to that we have done together that is not normal?''
There was a spattering of nervous laughter, as the line brought to mind one thing Robb and Clinton have in common: allegations of womanizing.
Express delivery
North recently sent his direct-mail contributors an ``EXTREMELY URGENT'' letter in an envelope designed to resemble an overnight parcel.
The letter was dated ``11:30 p.m. Thursday'' - creating the impression that Ollie had stayed up late into the night to type an urgent appeal for money.
But a glaring error suggests the letter had been gathering dust in the computer of one of North's direct-mail contractors.
``Advertising takes money,'' North's letter said, ``and since the Virginia Senate race has not just two but four candidates, advertising is even more critical to the success of our campaign.''
But there are only three candidates. The fourth, former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, dropped out Sept. 15.
``Leftist'' or ``guardians''?
North had some unusually kind words for the media last Friday after press reports suggesting former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder had put a price on his endorsement of Robb.
In an interview with a Northern Virginia TV station, North referred to the media as ``guardians of the truth'' and urged reporters to get to the bottom of allegations that Wilder asked President Clinton for a roving ambassadorship to Africa in exchange for a Robb endorsement.
The next day, however, North went back to attacking the ``leftist'' media.
The reason?
The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, and The Washington Post both published articles suggesting North failed to report suspicions of drug-dealing during White House efforts to arm anti-communists rebels in Nicaragua in the mid-1980s.
``In the last days of this campaign,'' North told the Post, ``the liberal media will do everything in its power to see that I'm not elected.''
Maybe-not-warm reception
As he campaigned up the Shenandoah Valley recently, Robb insisted that reports about his past marital infidelities should not be a factor in his re-election campaign because they are ``purely private'' matters between him and his wife.
Tell that to the James Madison University College Republicans in Harrisonburg.
Robb was greeted by about 20 rowdy picketers, one of whom carried a sign, ``Robb is not the education senator, he's the fornication senator.''
Robb sought to win the young conservatives by shaking their hands, but the gesture only emboldened them to begin chanting ``How was Tai?''
They were referring to Tai Collins, the former Virginia beauty queen who claimed she had an affair with Robb during his 1982-86 term as governor. Robb has denied having an affair, but admitting to receiving a nude massage from Collins in a New York hotel room.
One James Madison woman had a sign that asked: ``Want a massage?''
Later, when asked to comment on his reception, Robb said, ``They were chanting slogans, not all of which I could understand, that I don't think were designed to reflect their support for my candidacy.''
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE CAMPAIGN CANDIDATES by CNB