THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 26, 1996 TAG: 9605260116
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 37 lines
Gov. George F. Allen has some advice for his party's candidates for the U.S. Senate nomination: Try to be more positive.
After returning to Virginia after a trade mission to the Far East, Allen said incumbent John W. Warner and challenger James C. Miller III should ``talk about (their) attributes'' rather than trading barbs.
Ignoring Allen's appeal, the two sides accused each other of name-calling.
``I understand where Gov. Allen is coming from, and agree with his sentiments,'' said Miller spokesman Bill Kling. ``But this . . . invective and vitriol has not been injected by us.''
Eric Peterson, Warner's press aide, countered, ``The senator, by his nature, is not one who gets down in the mud and grovels.''
Allen returned to Richmond on Friday after a two-week trip to Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea, during which he announced $40 million in new Asian investments in Virginia.
Allen, who has refused to make an endorsement for the June 11 primary, said of the nomination fight: ``I have observed over the years . . . you get hit harder by our fellow Republicans than Democrat opponents.''
Mark R. Warner, a communications-industry millionaire and no relation to the Republican, is the all-but-official Democratic nominee.
Allen skirted a question on whether the increasingly nasty primary campaign will make it harder for the GOP to hold the Senate seat that Warner first won in 1978.
Warner recently released two radio attack ads, including one accusing Miller of dodging the draft during the Vietnam War.
``The distinction is that our radio ads are factual,'' Peterson said. ``They are not innuendo.''
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