700 HEAR HOPEFUL'S ADDRESS

Republican vice presidential candidate Dick Cheney's brief campaign stop in Cape Girardeau on Thursday brought out 700 excited supporters, a few loud protesters and a giant gray rat.

As hundreds of cars lined up in a grass lot between the terminal and the hangar where Cheney spoke, a woman dressed in a rat costume and about a dozen other members of area labor unions distributed literature challenging the Republican presidential ticket's position on minimum wage and chanted slogans over a megaphone.

"We're calling Cheney a rat for opposing minimum wage," said Grant Williams, director of the Service Employees International Union Local 1001.

Secretary of State Bekki Cook and local Democratic activists also had a press conference outside the airport's entrance during which they questioned the Republican ticket's minimum-wage position.

But most Cheney supporters passed all of them by wordlessly, eager to see the man they say will help restore morality to the White House.

Wright Tippett, 77, of Advance, Mo., was one of the early arrivals. He said he will vote for Bush and Cheney in November because of their moral background.

"I don't need to tell you how good Cheney is. You already know," Tippett said. "Liars we've had for eight years. We don't need more."

Security for Cheney's visit was tight. Secret Service, city and county officers and other security staff did a sweep of the hangar before Cheney arrived and barred anyone from bringing homemade signs into the building.

Campaign staffers stopped 16-year-old twins Lindsey and Rachel Pfanstiel of Cape Girardeau and told the teens they could not bring their signs into the hangar.

The girls, who are home-schooled and came to the rally with their parents as part of a government lesson, said it was "no big deal" that they had to leave behind their signs, one of which read, "Gore is the best friend a trial lawyer ever had."

Both girls said they had words of encouragement for Cheney if they got an opportunity to talk to him.

"I would tell him, 'You have all my support and prayers, and I hope you win the election,'" Lindsey said.

Rachel nodded her head and said, "I'd tell him, 'God needs people like you and Bush.'"

Inside the hangar, members of the Mid-America Teen Challenge choir sang the National Anthem and other patriotic and religious songs while waiting for Cheney's arrival.

Audience members held signs passed out by rally organizers and waved red, white and blue pom-poms. A mother and her baby held a sign that read "Babies for Bush-Cheney." The Woodland High School marching band played outside the hangar.

At five minutes before 2 p.m., the crowd perked up to the whine of a jet engine, and the red, white and blue Bush-Cheney jet rolled onto the runway. As Cheney and his wife emerged from the plane, the crowd began to applaud and chant, "Help is on the way!"

With an American flag behind the podium and a "Help is on the way" sign on the front, Cheney criticized Vice President and presidential candidate Al Gore's stance on prescription medicine for seniors, education and reducing the size of the U.S. military.

He asked his supporters for their votes in the November election.

"It may set the tone and direction for this country for the next 50 years, and it is absolutely essential we get it right," Cheney said to audience cheers.

Donna Pritchard of Cape Girardeau stood in the audience wearing a straw hat with red and blue ribbons, a long denim skirt and a T-shirt that said "W stands for Women" on the back -- a reference to Bush's middle initial.

Pritchard said she has two daughters who she wants to receive a solid education and have confidence in themselves.

"I think the Bush-Cheney ticket is very serious about education," she said. "And I just think they have a better, more positive message for women."