BOND TALKS ABOUT UPCOMING RACE

A day after winning the Republican primary, U.S. Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond vowed Wednesday to "campaign harder than ever" to win re-election in November.

Bond spoke to about 25 supporters on the steps of the Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau.

State Reps. Mary Kasten of Cape Girardeau and David Schwab of Jackson were among those on hand to greet Bond.

"Kit, you're it. We love you," Kasten said in introducing Bond.

Bond said he was ready to battle his Nov. 3 Democratic opponent, Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon.

"We have the organization. We have the right message, and I am going to campaign harder than I have ever campaigned before," he said.

"We are going to keep our foot on the accelerator right through Election Day," the veteran senator said.

Bond said he will focus on juvenile crime, taxes and education. He said juvenile crime and drug use are cancers in America.

Bond said he has worked to help secure millions of dollars in federal funds to aid front-line law enforcement personnel in battling the methamphetamine problem in Missouri.

"I'm also working to see that our most violent juveniles are tried as adults and that violent kids are removed from the classroom," he said.

Bond said that during Nixon's tenure as attorney general, the state has become the "methamphetamine drug capital of the world."

"I believe in being tough on crime," said Bond. "Jay Nixon only talks tough."

Bond said he would work to simplify the tax code and provide tax relief. "I believe the IRS is a bloated bureaucracy out of control, and that too much of Missouri families' hard-earned income is taken by taxes."

He also pushed his direct-check-for-education plan. The plan would send more federal money directly to local school districts, bypassing federal and state bureaucracies.

"For every dollar Missouri sends to Washington for elementary and secondary education programs, only 79 cents are received back by Missouri, and even less make it to the classroom," Bond said. "It is an outrage."