EMERSON RETURNS HOME, KICKS OFF NINTH CAMPAIGN

While patriotic music played, "Team Emerson" introduced itself in Cape Girardeau Saturday to over 300 people in a room filled with red, white and blue, kicking off the congressional campaign of U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson.

And for the first time since February when he began treatment for lung cancer, Emerson returned to his district to say he was doing well and looking forward to being elected to a ninth term in the U.S. House.

A rally conducted Friday in Rolla was also billed as a "Team Emerson" event.

The eight-term Republican from Southeast Missouri's 8th District disclosed in November that he has lung cancer and has undergone treatments in Washington D.C. that have prohibited him from traveling.

The cancer was found in his left lung following tests that were ordered after a routine physical in October revealed a form of walking pneumonia.

Emerson assured his friends and supporters attending Saturday's event that the treatments were going well as Old Glory served as a backdrop for the event.

Emerson said his voice was labored and his breathing "shallow" because of the cancer treatments, but he was still a strong voice when representing Missouri on Capitol Hill.

"I work for you," he said, "and I want you to know that I haven't missed one vote through this whole ordeal."

Not only seeing Emerson was a welcomed sight for many of the attendees, but his optimism about soon becoming the next chairman of the House Agriculture Committee also met with boisterous applause.

Emerson said Washington pundits are predicting that U.S. Rep. Pat Roberts will be appointed to fill the vacancy created by Sen. Bob Dole's resignation. If appointed, Roberts, who serves as chairman for the agriculture committee, would leave the House and the chairmanship would fall on the vice chairman, Emerson.

"I don't like to count chickens before the eggs are hatched," he said, "but they're saying that there's a 75 to 80 percent chance that Roberts will be appointed to Dole's seat."

Improving transportation throughout Southeast Missouri was a campaign promise Emerson has made in the past and said he would continue to keep. Four-lane highways are being built on Highway 60, 63 and 67, he said, and federal money has been freed up for a new Mississippi River bridge at Cape Girardeau. "Improving that grid-system of travel only improves our productivity," he said.

On a personal note, Emerson thanked his constituents for the cards, letters and prayers he has received in the last few months.

"In the last half year," he said, "I've been overwhelmed at the outpouring of support."

Emerson said his wife Jo Ann also was supposed to attend the rally, but she stayed in Washington with her mother, who unexpectedly underwent quadruple bypass surgery Thursday.