KAINE ACCUSES KILGORE OF BEING SOFT ON 'METH'

Responding To The Ad, Republican Faults Foe's Record Against Drug

Timothy M. Kaine, the Democratic nominee for governor, yesterday rolled out
a radio commercial pelting Jerry W. Kilgore with his own words for opposing
the state's latest crackdown on a highly addictive drug sweeping the
Republican's home region.

The advertisement -- on stations in far Southwest Virginia criticizes the
former attorney general for resisting mandatory controls on the public's
access to cold and allergy medicine used to manufacture methampethamine.
The spot depicts Kilgore, who prefers voluntary restrictions, as captive to
big donors in the drug industry.

The Kilgore campaign countered that the lieutenant governor is using the
one-minute attack ad to conceal a record that -- unlike Kilgore's -- does
not include proposals to curb methamphetamine, commonly known as "meth."

"If Tim Kaine did make an ad detailing his record on meth, it would be 58
seconds of silence, with a two-second disclaimer," said J. Tucker Martin,
Kilgore's deputy press secretary.

Kilgore, meantime, is reusing on radio stations across the state two
commercials from the spring. One is a biographical spot and the other
attacks Kaine for depicting himself as a moderate.

The campaign hinted that fresh ads critical of Kaine would be running soon.

Again taking the fight to Kilgore's home turf, Kaine is gambling that he
can peel away votes in the Republican-leaning countryside with tough
advertising challenging Kilgore's presumed advantage on law and order.

Kilgore views the Kaine ad otherwise. Martin said the new commercial
indicates Kaine, who also is extending his latest television ad buy to
Richmond and Southwest Virginia, recognizes Kilgore is seen as stronger on
crime and "that's why he attacks it."

The Kaine ad again features Sheriff Tommy Whitt of Montgomery County
deriding Kilgore on the meth crisis in rural Virginia. But it also includes
audio of Kilgore knocking down an executive order last week by Gov. Mark R.
Warner in response to the problem.

"You never want to require that individuals participate in certain
programs," Kilgore says of Warner's directive.

Warner, a Democrat, decreed that some cold and allergy remedies be moved
off retailers' shelves and placed behind the counter. Also, his order
requires proper identification to purchase about a dozen products, imposes
limits on the amount purchased and requires retailers to record purchases.

Kilgore, who won legislation increasing penalties for the manufacture and
possession of meth, favors a voluntary effort by police and retailers to
thwart the acquisition of over-the-counter drugs and other supplies used to
make meth.

Kilgore, a native of Scott County, said the mandatory steps are a hardship
for small retailers, the so-called mom-and-pop stores.

Senior Republicans lawmakers last week urged emergency action on meth,
naming a panel of business officials, pharmacists, police and legislators
to fashion proposals for the 2006 General Assembly.

Whitt, a drawling country sheriff who appeared in a Kaine radio commercial
in June, said in the ad that Kilgore opposes the Warner-initiated measures
because he has "sided with his big contributors in the pharmaceutical
industry."

Whitt continued, "If Jerry Kilgore can't stand up to his campaign
contributors to fight dangerous drugs, he's not strong enough to be
governor of this great commonwealth of Virginia."

Drug-makers and pharmacists have plowed more than $500,000 into the
governor's race, with Kilgore receiving the bulk of donations, according to
the Virginia Public Access Project, which monitors campaign fundraising and
spending.

Kilgore has collected $512,925 from such sources, compared with $17,835 for
Kaine. Both candidates' donors include manufacturers of products likely
covered by the Warner order.