On Labor Day, Cape Girardeau resident and former Secretary of State Bekki Cook said she has her sights set on a new job -- as lieutenant governor of the state of Missouri.

"I'm ready to go back to work if the people send me there," Cook said Monday, confirming her candidacy for the 2004 election. "I'm as definite right now as I can be. I have been encouraged in so many ways in the last few days. Unless something unforeseen arises, I'm in the game."

The announcement by Cook, a Democrat, sets up a potential Cape Girardeau showdown for lieutenant governor, as state Sen. Peter Kinder, a Republican, also intends to run for the state's No. 2 spot.

But the field could be crowded. Pat Secrest, a former state representative from Manchester, Mo., has announced her intentions to run on the Republican ticket.

Some names being mentioned as challengers for the Democratic nomination include state Sen. Ken Jacob of Columbia, state Sen. Pat Dougherty of St. Louis and former House Speaker Steve Gaw of Moberly.

Hoped McCaskill would run

Cook said her decision to run wasn't an easy one. When she first heard of Lt. Gov. Joe Maxwell's decision last week not to run for re-election because of his wife's illness, Cook said, she hoped that State Auditor Claire McCaskill would run for lieutenant governor instead of challenging Bob Holden for the Democratic party nomination for governor.

"I was hoping she'd move to that race so we wouldn't have a primary," Cook said.

But McCaskill said last week there was no way she would run for lieutenant governor, which she sees as a weaker office than the one she holds now.

A race between two Cape Girardeau residents would be good for Cape Girardeau and Cape Girardeau County, Cook said.

"When I won in 1996, it was the first time in 100 years we had elected a statewide official from Cape Girardeau County," she said. "We haven't had a whole lot of representation at that level."

Kinder has yet to officially announce his candidacy, though he has been laying plans to run for office and has been making fund-raising visits and calls for the past month.

On Monday, Kinder said he has delayed his announcement from last week in deference to Maxwell, whose wife is battling what has been described as a painfully debilitating illness.

Friends for years

Kinder said his family and Cook's family have been friends for years.

"Thirty-something years ago, she had a date or two with my older brother," Kinder said. "When her mother died suddenly about four or five years ago, I was at the wake. When my father was killed (in an automobile accident) three years ago this summer, she wrote my mother a very nice, personal note. Believe it or not, there are some things more important than politics and the relentless pursuit of political office."

Cook said she also considers Kinder a friend.

"I've known him since he was in high school and I was in college," she said. "We've always been friends. But our beliefs about what government is supposed to do are very different."

Regardless of opponent, Kinder said that he expects this campaign to be positive and confined to the issues.

"I believe that we can take our cases to the people across this state, and I am confident as to the outcome when those positions are articulated," Kinder said.

Kinder sees Cook's candidacy as positioning to get an even higher office.

"I think this is about a campaign for governor for her in four years," he said.

But that doesn't apply to himself, said Kinder, who's expecting that the likely Republican candidate for governor, Matt Blunt, will be elected and serve two terms.

"So it's less true for me," he said. "I'm doing it because it's a natural office for me to go to having been Senate president pro tem. The lieutenant governor is the constitutional president of the Senate. It makes sense."

'Joyful time of rest'

Cook was working as a lawyer in Cape Girardeau with her husband in 1994 when Gov. Mel Carnahan asked her to take the job as secretary of state. Cook replaced Judi Moriarty, who had been ousted by the Missouri Supreme Court for election-law violations. Cook later won the position herself in a 1996 election.

She considered running for lieutenant governor in 2000 but opted not to join a crowded field of Democratic candidates. Instead, she returned to Cape Girardeau.

"I've had a joyful time of rest and recreation," she said. "I've been very active with church. I've done a lot of things that I think are useful."

Cook said she knows the job isn't considered a plum post, but she sees the importance of it and would like to be an advocate for the elderly and education.

"You also have to be prepared to be governor in the case of a disaster," she said. "That is a pretty doggone big job. I think I'd be concentrating on learning all the aspects of state government."

In the meantime, Cook says she is getting organized and ready to run a campaign. She's pondering staff members and a possible campaign committee.

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137