THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 29, 1996 TAG: 9605290439
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY WARREN FISKE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 52 lines
Republican U.S. Senate candidate James C. Miller III will begin a statewide radio advertising campaign today that accuses three-term incumbent John W. Warner of abandoning conservative principles.
But Miller acknowledged Tuesday that his cash-strapped campaign may lack funds to advertise on television before the June 11 Republican primary.
``We haven't made a final decision on that,'' said Miller, who had only one-fifth as much money to spend as Warner, according to campaign finance reports filed this spring with the Federal Election Commission.
Warner has been heavily advertising on television and radio for almost a month.
Miller's radio ad - his first of the campaign - dismisses as ``unbelievable'' Warner's recent claims in television commercials of having a conservative voting record.
Miller's ad, which features a man and a woman in conversation, notes that Warner has supported waiting periods for handgun purchases and federal funding for abortions, and opposed the 1987 Supreme Court nomination of Robert H. Bork.
The commercial also notes that Warner refused to support two recent Republican nominees for statewide office: Michael P. Farris for lieutenant governor in 1993 and Oliver L. North for U.S. Senate in 1994. ``Why is Warner running in the Republican primary anyway?'' a commentator asks.
During a news conference Monday, Miller accused Warner of running ``fallacious'' radio attack ads. In one ad, Warner says Miller ``increased the deficit'' when he was federal budget director under President Ronald Reagan.
Miller inherited a deficit of $221.2 billion when he came to office in late 1985. It shrank to $149.8 billion the next year, then increased to $152.5 billion when he resigned at the end of Reagan's term.
Eric Peterson, a spokesman for Warner, said Congress - not Miller - deserves credit for the dramatic deficit cut in 1986 brought on by the Gramm-Rudman Act. Peterson said the ad is justified because there was a $2.7 billion increase in the deficit after Miller's first full year on the job.
In another radio commercial, Warner says Miller ``intentionally avoided military service four times.'' Miller said he obeyed all laws and registered for the draft in the early 1960s. He was married and a student at the time, so Miller received draft deferrals during his four-year undergraduate career at the University of Georgia.''
``I never asked for the deferrals,'' said Miller, who never served actively in the military. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
James C. Miller III
Sen. John W. Warner
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE CANDIDATE CAMPAIGN ADVERTISING by CNB