EMERSON WILL SUBMIT PETITIONS BY FRIDAY TO GET ON BALLOT

For Jo Ann Emerson, it takes more than votes to get elected to Congress from the 8th District.

It takes a petition effort to get her name on the November ballot as an independent candidate to succeed her late husband, Bill Emerson.

Jo Ann Emerson expects to deliver the necessary petitions to the secretary of state's office in Jefferson City by Friday.

Keith Kirk, Emerson's campaign manager, said Wednesday that Mrs. Emerson will deliver petitions bearing the signatures of about 20,000 registered voters in the 8th District, far more than the 3,692 signatures needed to get on the Nov. 5 election ballot.

Independent candidates and new political parties wanting to have candidates on the November ballot must file petitions by 5 p.m. Monday.

The secretary of state's office has until Aug. 20 to certify candidates for the general election.

"Our plan is to do it as quickly as possible," said Jim Grebing, communications director for the secretary of state's office.

Emerson, who is supported by Republican Party leaders, isn't the only person seeking to run as an independent candidate.

Carter County native Dan Alcorn also has mounted a petition drive.

A Democrat, Alcorn has practiced law in the Washington area since 1980.

The Emerson petitions will be submitted by county. The secretary of state's office will copy the petitions and send them to the county clerks, who will check to see if the signatures are valid.

Kirk said a couple hundred volunteers collected the signatures in the last two weeks. Petitions have been signed by voters in all 26 counties in the 8th District of Southeast Missouri.

The congressional district of more than half a million people covers a fourth of the state of Missouri, Kirk said.

Kirk said it is particularly important for the Emerson campaign to have a huge number of signatures because Jo Ann Emerson's name won't appear on the Aug. 6 primary ballot.

Since the filing period didn't reopen after the death of her husband, she couldn't run as a Republican candidate and be on the August primary ballot.

"We wanted as many voters to be able to speak as possible," said Kirk.

"In the primary, it takes a little less than 20,000 votes to win in a walk," he said.

To the Emerson campaign, the petitions are as good as a primary win.

Groups such as the Missouri Citizens for Life, the National Rifle Association and the Farm Bureau aided in securing the signatures, as well as Republican an Democratic volunteers.

"The old Democratic coalition has continued to support this candidacy," Kirk said.

Kirk said money contributed to Bill Emerson's campaign this year -- about $140,000 -- is being returned to the donors. Those donors could turn around and contribute the money to Mrs. Emerson's campaign.

The petition effort has been coordinated from the Team Emerson campaign office on the third floor of the H & H Building in the 400 block of Broadway.

It is a bare-bones office, with little more than campaign signs for decoration.

On the wall behind Kirk's desk is one of Bill Emerson's favorite quotes. "Be strong and endure, and resolute to overcome." It is a quote from the Prince of Wales in World War I.

Kirk worked on every one of Bill Emerson's campaigns, dating back to 1980 when he was 15.

Kirk served as an aide to the congressman. He later quit to take a job as a lobbyist in Washington.

He lobbied for such clients as the National Groundwater Association and Union Pacific Railroad.

But Kirk left that job to run Mrs. Emerson's campaign.

"We all look at this as a family," he said.