CANDIDATE WEIGHED 'POTTED-PLANT' CAMPAIGN

Local guitarist Bob Camp says he looked into running for Congress as a "potted plant" as part of political satirist and filmmaker Michael Moore's "Ficus 2000" campaign.

In the end, Moore's organization decided against running a potted-plant campaign in Missouri's 8th Congressional District. But Camp is still on the ballot as a Democratic candidate for Congress.

The Cape Girardeau man is one of two Democratic candidates on the August primary ballot. The other is Earl Durnell of Cabool.

The winner faces Republican U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson and Libertarian John B. Hendricks Jr. of Jackson this fall.

Camp said Moore looked at running a ficus plant in the 8th District race but decided against it since there were other candidates running besides Emerson.

Camp said Moore's organization paid his wife, Mary, $400 to investigate the possibility of running a potted-plant candidate for the congressional seat.

He said his wife convinced him to run for the spot. Camp said he also wrote a song for Moore's ficus campaign. Camp said United Broadcasting of New York paid him $200 for the song. United Broadcasting produces Moore's "The Awful Truth," a television series that offers up political satire.

The song included this verse: "I might as well vote for Mojo Nixon, my own self, Superman or Clark Kent for all the good it does me, now this really disturbs me, I might as well be voting for a potted plant."

Mojo Nixon is a guitar player and entertainer who, as a prank, is running for president on the Mushroom Party.

Camp admitted he didn't slave over the lyrics. "A $200 song is not a very good song."

He filed for office in late March, just hours before the filing deadline. Durnell and Hendricks also filed late.

Camp, who paid a $100 filing fee at the secretary of state's office in Jefferson City, said he didn't learn until later that he would have competition in the August primary.

In all, he said that he and his wife had about four telephone conversations with a Moore aide in late March.

Camp said he learned about the candidacies of Durnell and Hendricks in a telephone conversation with Moore's aide after filing for office.

He said the aide indicated that Moore's potted plant campaign focused on districts where incumbents were running unopposed. Emerson was unopposed for Congress until the final hours of the filing period.

Through Moore's efforts, at least 21 ficus plants were entered as write-in candidates for congressional seats around the country stretching from New Jersey to California.

Moore has said the ficuses meet constitutional qualifications: Each is at least 25 years old, has been in the United States for at least seven years and is a resident of the district in which it is running.

Moore's office couldn't be reached for comment.

Camp said he wouldn't have minded running as a potted plant. "I am not and I have never been a rutabaga," he quipped.