REFORM HOPEFULS MAKE PITCHES

Richard Kline is on the campaign trail again.

The 59-year-old, ex-Navy man is running for governor as a Reform Party candidate.

Kline has the backing of Reform Party presidential candidate Jerry Beck, who hopes to bring Minnesota Gov. and former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura to Cape Girardeau on a campaign trip next year.

Kline would welcome such help from the Reform Party's most visible politician. "Some people look at him as the George Washington of the Reform Party," said Kline.

Kline, who lives in the tiny town of Gipsy in Bollinger County, has been all over the political map. In the past three years he has lost two congressional contests in the 8th District, once as a Republican and the second time as a Democrat. In 1996, he won the Republican primary, which occurred several weeks after the death of incumbent Bill Emerson.

But the Republican Party didn't support him, choosing instead to back the congressman's widow, Jo Ann Emerson, who ran as an independent.

Upset with the way he was treated by the party organization, Kline ran as a Democrat in 1998. Kline garnered 11,624 votes but came in last in a three-way Democratic primary in August 1998.

Kline initially pre-filed with the Missouri secretary of state's office as a Republican candidate for governor. But he stopped payment on the $200 filing-fee check and then pre-filed as a Reform Party candidate, paying the filing fee.

Kline said he made the switch after being encouraged by Reform Party officials to run on their ticket.

The filing period officially doesn't start until the end of February.

Kline said this will be his last attempt at political office.

A flat-tax, anti-abortion candidate, Kline said the nation's Reform Party mirrors his views. "Their platform is my platform," he said.

He said the Reform Party is the nation's grassroots party. "The Reform Party is your party for this country's future," said Kline.

Still, he admits it isn't easy being a candidate for political office. "Being a politician is like living on the edge of a two-bite cookie," he said.

Kline, accompanied by presidential candidate Beck, met Wednesday with reporters in Cape Girardeau.

Beck is a 60-year-old businessman from Windsor near Truman Dam in western Missouri. He owns a company that manufactures air filters for commercial customers.

Beck said he is one of two Reform Party candidates seeking the presidential nomination for the third party.

Beck said he plans to spend millions on his campaign. He said he has "access" to the $100-plus million needed to run a national campaign.

"I will not take any money from the federal government or the Reform Party," said Beck.

He said the Reform Party has about $87,000 in its treasury.

"I will independently run my own campaign and provide my own financing," he said.

Beck said he also plans to campaign for Kline and help raise an estimated $300,000 needed for the Reform Party gubernatorial campaign.

Neither Kline nor Beck seem deterred by the challenge of being third-party candidates in a political system that is dominated by Republicans and Democrats.

Beck said the Reform Party is committed to working for the common man. "I go down the middle of the road: I am neither conservative nor liberal," he said.

He doesn't know if the nation can afford a tax cut.

Beck said the nation needs a new government program to provide farmers fair prices for their crops and livestock. "What I want to do is put money back in the farm communities."