'BARNSTORM' TOUR STOPS AT CAPE

Four Republican governors visited a Cape Girardeau business Monday to push the Texas Gov. George W. Bush-Richard Cheney presidential ticket.

The governors, Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, Bill Graves of Kansas, Kenny Guinn of Nevada and Bob Taft of Ohio visited Horizon Screen Printing on Broadway.

It was the second day of the "Barnstorm for Reform" tour where 29 Republican governors will scour 25 states in a final-hour stump for the Republican ticket.

The four governors are "Team 2" of the seven-team tour of governors, which launched from Bush's Governor's Mansion in Austin, Texas, on Sunday.

The tour "gives us a chance to talk to people," said Guinn, standing beside an automatic textile press that printed designs on T-shirts. "We're hearing that people support Bush's message of less government interference, more local control."

Guinn has been Nevada's governor since 1998.

Retired Judge John Hill, former attorney general of Texas, accompanied the governors, representing Democrats willing to cross partisan lines to vote for Bush.

Hill said he gives his word that Bush is the right man for president.

Rhoda Reeves, owner of Horizon, said the Bush-Cheney camp asked her to sponsor the visit at her business.

"They know we're staunch Republicans," she explained.

Husband Glenn Reeves said that being in such close proximity to so many governors was a new experience for him.

"I only think once before I've ever met a governor, to be honest with you," he said.

The governors' visit did not change the fact that Monday was another day at work, said Bev Lewis of Kelso Mo., manning an ultra-violet flatbed printer.

The governors had planned stops today at Dubuque, Iowa, and Madison and Green Bay in Wisconsin.