BUSH ARRIVES HERE TONIGHT

Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush will spotlight a Sikeston lawmaker's Adopt-A-Farm-Family program when he visits Cape Girardeau Thursday.

He also is expected to raise about $75,000 for his presidential campaign during the visit.

The Texas governor will tour Riverport Terminals grain-bagging plant at the Southeast Missouri Regional Port near Scott City and talk with farmers. Riverport Terminals has bagged grain for shipment and distribution to Ethiopia under the Food for Peace program.

Bush will meet with state Rep. and farmer Peter Myers of Sikeston, president of Adopt A Farm Family. Myers, a Republican, is a former U.S. deputy secretary of agriculture. He will introduce Bush at the public event.

He once introduced Bush's father, then President George Bush, at an event in Washington.

Myers' 10-year-old Adopt-A-Farm Family and Rural Restoration program encourages Christian individuals and organizations to offer prayers and encouragement to farm families going through tough times.

"We have touched 8,000 to 10,000 farm families in 10 years," said Myers, who established the program with the help of his wife, Mary.

The program ministers largely to farm families in the nation's mid-section from the Dakotas to Louisiana.

For the Bush visit, the port grounds will be open to the public at 9:15 a.m. Bush is to arrive at the port around 10 a.m. after spending the night at a Cape Girardeau hotel.

Bush is expected to fly to Cape Girardeau, arriving at the airport around 9:15 tonight from a campaign stop in Oklahoma City.

It is estimated about 300 people will attend Thursday's public event, local Republican organizers said.

"This is not a rally," said Lloyd Smith, U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson's chief of staff. Emerson's campaign staff is assisting with preparations for the Bush visit.

Following the event, Bush is to attend a $1,000-per-couple fund raiser at the home of eye surgeon Dr. Charles Cozean in Cape Girardeau. The event is being hosted by Emerson, U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond and state Sen. Peter Kinder.

Nine hundred invitations have been sent out for the fund raiser. About 150 people are expected to attend, GOP organizers said.

From Cape Girardeau, Bush will fly to Springfield, Ill. He is scheduled to arrive in Springfield at 1:35 p.m. and leave about 7 p.m. for Davenport, Iowa.

He plans to spend Friday and Saturday in Iowa campaigning for votes in the Ames Straw Poll at Iowa State University.

Missouri is an important swing state on the road to winning the presidency, GOP campaign officials say.

In 1996, President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore kicked off their post-political-convention campaign bus trip in Cape Girardeau.

"What you do from this media market is you reach border swing states," said Kinder. The media market covers Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois, western Kentucky and western Tennessee.

Kinder has been promoting Bush for president since last March when he organized an effort by Republican state legislators in Missouri to encourage Bush to run for president.

Kinder attended a reception for Bush at the Texas governor's mansion in Austin on June 2. The two-hour reception included about 80 people from a dozen states, including the chief operating officer of Microsoft and the owner of the New Orleans Saints football team.

Bush's interest in Adopt A Farm Family ties in with the governor's call for a government that turns first to faith-based organizations and community groups to help people in need.

Bush wants the federal government to dedicate $8 billion to provide new tax incentives for giving and to support charities and other private institutions that address human needs.

Bush has called for the expansion of "charitable choice" to all social-service programs. Current law only allows religious organizations to compete for welfare funds.

U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft, R-Mo., drafted "charitable choice" legislation that became part of federal welfare reform in 1996. It allows faith-based groups to compete for government grants and contracts on an equal footing with secular organizations.

The idea has been embraced by both Republican and Democratic politicians, said Steve Hilton, communications director for Ashcroft.

Hilton said Bush was a "pioneer" of charitable-choice efforts in Texas.