BOND SAYS MISSOURI KEY STATE

Missouri will be a key state in the November presidential election, U.S. Sen. Kit Bond said Thursday.

The state's voters have picked winners in every presidential election "except '56, when they went with a neighbor, Adlai Stevenson. I'd say the same for the Dole people. Whoever wins Missouri is probably going to win the nation," Bond said.

Bond and colleague John McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona, were in Cape Girardeau to stump for GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole and running mate Jack Kemp.

About 400 people attended the rally at Common Pleas Courthouse.

The candidates' characters will be the "overwhelming issue" in deciding the race, Bond said.

"Bob Dole has taken a pasting" in President Clinton's paid campaign ads, he said, and the Dole campaign "will have to work long and hard to try to straighten out the misperceptions, misimplications and downright dishonest statements that have been made" about him.

Dole's and Clinton's stances on the economy, foreign policy and drugs are important, but polls show the voters' biggest concerns are "issues of character, integrity and trustworthiness," Bond said.

Bond said voters "have a right to and should question whether (Clinton) is telling the truth."

McCain, who put Dole's nomination before delegates at the GOP National Convention earlier this month, blasted the Clinton administration's handling of most issues.

He said Clinton has "abandoned the war on drugs" by cutting funding and staff. While tobacco use is a concern, "it pales in comparison to the drug menace in our society, and the Clinton administration is doing nothing about it."

McCain, a Marine fighter pilot and POW during the Vietnam War, said he is "very worried" about U.S. troops overseas and what impact Clinton's "feckless, photo-op foreign policy" will have on their return.

"Elect Bob Dole and you will make the world safe for democracy again," McCain said.

If Dole and Kemp go to the White House, he said, "It's all over for the liberals. It's all over for them, and they know it."

McCain was at one time a contender for the running mate slot. McCain nominated Dole.

Also in attendance at Thursday's rally were Jo Ann Emerson, recently endorsed by the Republican Party in her bid for her late husband's 8th District congressional seat; state Reps. Mary Kasten, David Schwab and Patrick Naeger and state Sen. Peter Kinder.