DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS A `PEACEFUL' EVENT

JACKSON -- Only one name was nominated for President Tuesday night at the Cape Girardeau County Democratic Caucus.

About 55 people packed a courtroom at the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse to unanimously select President Bill Clinton as the official candidate for the 1996 presidential elections.

Some of them wore First Family '96 buttons and other donned lapel pin or buttons touting the Democratic Party.

In other years, the caucus has been more exciting, said Democratic Central Committee Chairman Rick Althaus.

If more than one candidate had been nominated, the delegates would be divided among the nominees.

"It's more exciting in an open year," he said. "But we expected this to be peaceful."

The party members chose 12 delegates -- six men and six women -- from Cape Girardeau County to attend a congressional district caucus in April. Twelve alternate delegates were also chosen.

The congressional district caucuses likely will be held in Poplar Bluff. The state caucus will be May 4 in Columbia.

The number of delegates in each county is based on the number of residents who voted in the last election.

The Republican party will choose its 19 delegates Saturday.

Some Republicans -- like Congressman Bill Emerson -- have called for Missouri to select candidates based on a primary system. Under a primary election, more presidential candidates would visit the state, they said.

"It's not really better. What's more important is the place on the calendar," Althaus said, adding that Iowa is a caucus state.

The Iowa caucus attracts national attention because it is one of the first in the nation.