BULLOCK CHALLENGES EMERSON FOR CONGRESS

Republican Bill Emerson hopes voters will re-elect him to a seventh term in Congress; his Democratic challenger, Thad Bullock, hopes after six attempts that 1992 will be his year to head to Washington.

The two square off Tuesday when voters decide who will represent Missouri's 8th District.

Emerson is serving his 12th year in Congress. He has said he believes a conservative Congress is needed to pass a balanced budget bill and provide a line-item veto for the president.

"I have voted for these two proposals in the past," Emerson said. "But we need 217 others to pass the measures in the House. Then we need the approval of 51 senators.

"We need a wholesale change in Washington," he said. "Congress has as much to do with things happening as the president. I can see some changes becoming a reality."

Concerning national health care, Emerson said he would favor some sort of tax credits to allow people to purchase their own health insurance.

"There are 40 to 50 national health proposals out there," he said. "I realize there is a problem. But we don't want to rush into something that will create a new bureaucracy.

Emerson said he believes the new federal highway act will provide a jump-start for the economy by providing federal funding for highway construction.

"With the new 6-cent fuel tax approved in Missouri, you are going to see as many as 30,000 new jobs in this state," he said.

"We have too much `negativisms' out there, but we can rise above our economics problems," said Emerson. "A lot of countries are fighting to be like the U.S."

Twenty-four years and six congressional campaigns after Bullock's first bid for Congress, he won his party's nomination in August.

Bullock entered the congressional races in 1968, 1984, 1986, 1988 and 1990.

Bullock closed his piano store in the old Marquette Hotel and retired at the end of last year.

Bullock said his campaign has focused on three issues: the "shrinking economy, the need for national health care and the need for deserving students to receive a college education.

"I am certain that my qualifications in life will tie in with these top three priority issues," said Bullock.

Bullock contends his 40 years of experience as a small businessman will enable him to take the lead in attracting new industry to the 8th District.

Bullock also stressed his farming background. He still owns a farm in Dunklin County. He believes too often farmers are having to pay more to raise a crop than they receive for it.

Rather than send foreign aid in the form of cash, Bullock proposes sending grain instead as a way of helping farmers. "In the 8th District, agriculture is the king," he said.