KEMP RALLY TODAY AT JACKSON

JACKSON -- Republican vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp will discuss the economy, the presidential campaign and failures of the Clinton administration at today's campaign rally in Jackson, said a Dole-Kemp spokesperson.

"He will tell the people of Cape Girardeau County why he and Bob Dole are much better for America," said Dan Hubbard, the coordinator of the Dole-Kemp campaign in Missouri. "He's very excited about being there; he's looking forward to it."

After speaking at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield this morning, Kemp and his wife, Joanne, are scheduled to arrive at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport about noon.

A rally is scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m. at the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse. Between 750 and 1,000 people are expected.

It is an open event and no tickets are required; but they will be offered as keepsakes, said Dylan Glenn, the press coordinator who was in Cape Girardeau Thursday.

People are free to bring food and drinks if they like, he said, and cameras will be allowed. If it should rain, the event will be held at the Jackson Knights of Columbus Hall, 3305 N. High.

Preparations have been hurried since the announcement came late Wednesday. Much of the last-minute arrangements will be completed today.

"It hasn't gotten crazy yet but we expect it to," Jackson City Administrator Steve Wilson said Thursday. "We close the entire downtown for Homecomers every year, so it's not exactly new for us."

At 8 a.m., a construction crew will build a grandstand on the courthouse lawn and a fence around the crowd area. The crowd area will be cordoned off similar to the way Capaha Park was when President Clinton visited Cape Girardeau in August, Glenn said.

At noon the U.S. Secret Service will perform a security sweep. Kemp is expected to arrive shortly after.

Wilson said the city's main priority will be traffic control and seeing that the proper streets are closed. Portions of Barton, Main, and High Streets will be closed much of the afternoon.

The closed streets on a Friday afternoon will be a "minor inconvenience" Wilson said.

"It will be a very positive experience for the city of Jackson, and will offer us good exposure, and everyone seems very excited," Wilson said. "The residents of Jackson are going to be very interested in this happening."

Missouri is very important to the Dole-Kemp campaign, Hubbard said. He said a recent poll showed that Dole and Clinton are tied for Missouri's 11 electoral votes.

"The media seem to thrill in that we have given up in Missouri, but that couldn't be anywhere further from the truth," Hubbard said. "We're going to win, because the only poll that matters is the poll on Nov. 5."

Hubbard said Cape Girardeau County is a good place to continue getting the word out. He said Jackson was chosen because it is representative of small-town, moral America.

Other officials agreed: "I think the Dole-Kemp campaign is looking for a small-town America, and I think Jackson is very representative," Wilson said. "That's what they were looking for and found in our city."

Mayor Paul Sander said small communities like Jackson are important in elections, and Kemp knows that.

"I think that Congressman Kemp is interested in coming to small-town America and that's what Jackson is," he said. "He's hoping it will catch on to all small towns in America."

U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft, State Auditor and gubernatorial candidate Margaret Kelly, state Sen. Peter Kinder, state Rep. Pat Naeger and 8th District congressional candidate Jo Ann Emerson are to be among those attending.

Other Republican officials and candidates will be present.

Kemp was last in Southeast Missouri when he appeared in Cape Girardeau in 1984, campaigning for the late Rep. Bill Emerson.