ASHCROFT IN AREA TODAY

Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Ashcroft will swing through seven Southeast Missouri counties today. At the end of the trip, Ashcroft will have been to 101 of Missouri's 114 counties.

He will start at 8 a.m. in Ste. Genevieve and end his day at 5:30 p.m. in Caruthersville at the Pemiscot County Courthouse.

At 9:30 a.m. the former governor and attorney general will be in Perryville at Hoeckele's Bakery at 4 North Jackson Street. He will campaign on the town square.

Ashcroft will be in Marble Hill at 11:15 a.m. at the Bollinger County Co-op service facility on Highway 34, at 12:45 p.m. he will bag groceries at Ralph's Supermarket in Piedmont, and at 2:15 p.m. he will host a Talk About the Future session at Madison County Courthouse in Fredericktown.

Two hours later he will be in Portageville at Adam's Farm Center, before heading on to Caruthersville.

Ashcroft is favored to capture the GOP nomination for the Senate next week against token opposition. Other Republican candidates are Joseph A. Schwan of St. Louis, Ronald G. Halstead of Summersville, Joyce Lea of Kansas City, and Doug Jones of Springfield.