In a brutal Senate race that captivated the nation, Republican Oliver L. North, the Iran-contra figure who admitted he lied to vTC Congress, lost his bid for Democrat Charles S. Robb's seat in Virginia last night.
With nearly all the votes tallied, Mr. Robb had received 46 percent, compared with 43 percent for Mr. North and 11 percent for independent candidate J. Marshall Coleman.
Mr. North's defeat was a serious blow for conservatives and evangelicals who had championed, and heavily financed, his candidacy. It also marked the salvation of Mr. Robb's political career.
The senator, a former Virginia governor and the son-in-law of former President Lyndon B. Johnson, once seemed poised for political heights, but had recently been damaged by "character" issues -- allegations that he attended parties at which cocaine was used while governor and an admission of marital infidelity.
Conceding the race last night, Mr. North sounded as if his political career was just beginning. "My loss is not your defeat if you will persevere," he told thousands of crestfallen supporters who had gathered in Richmond expecting a victory party.
The former Marine lieutenant colonel cited his achievement as a boxing champion while a student at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, reminding the crowd that in his first stab at a title, he lost in the quarterfinals, and in his second try, he was defeated in the semi-finals.
"But the third time, I won," he said. "My friends, don't give up the fight now. There is much more to come."
A beaming Mr. Robb, delivering his acceptance speech in Tysons Corner, greeted cheering supporters, shouting, "How sweet it is."
Going against the tide of Democratic losses last night, Mr.
Robb's victory was due in part to a large voter turnout in Virginia. He had also been helped by the withdrawal of independent candidate and former Democratic Gov. L. Douglas Wilder.
Exit polls showed that only 40 percent of voters said they were influenced by Mr. Robb's personal problems, while more -- 60 percent -- said they were swayed by Mr. North's involvement in the Reagan-era arms-for-hostages scandal.
Mr. Robb overcame a robust, well-financed operation run by Mr. North, who traveled the state in a Winnebago nicknamed "Rolling Thunder," energized by the religious right and followed by an international press corps.
With three felony convictions in the arms-for-hostages scandal that were overturned on a technicality -- including one for obstructing Congress -- Mr. North was considered the ultimate "in-your-face" candidate in a profoundly anti-incumbent, anti-Washington election season.
In his shirt sleeves and cowboy boots, the charismatic Mr. North blasted the Clinton administration and preached a gospel of reduced government, no new taxes and conservative family values that resonated with voters, particularly in rural towns.
The fireworks between the candidate who admitted that he lied to Congress and the candidate who admitted that he bent his marriage vows made for one of the liveliest, nastiest and most issue-deprived contests of the year, and one that broke with the Virginia tradition of polite, genteel politics.
But Mr. North didn't save all of his invective for his opponents. In what some considered a grave campaign misstep -- and evidence of his irresponsible nature -- the Vietnam veteran cast doubt on the nation's military preparedness as the president was sending troops to Kuwait and said President Clinton wasn't his commander-in-chief.
Mr. North's notorious past, notably his deliberate misleading of Congress, made some fellow Republicans -- including the Reagans and Virginia's senior senator, John W. Warner, who threw his support behind Mr. Coleman -- dubious about his fitness for office. Many believe Nancy Reagan's recent criticism was the final, and fatal, blow.
Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, who once called Mr. North a "loose cannon," eventually hopped aboard the North bandwagon, as did nearly every probable 1996 Republican presidential hopeful.
But the crux of the North phenomenon was the support of the religious right, which helped the candidate pull in more than $18 million through a nationwide direct-mail effort, breaking the congressional spending record of $17.7 million set by Sen. Jesse Helms, a North Carolina Republican, in 1990.