Gephardt as VP nominee no guarantee to win Missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- If John Kerry picks Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri as his running mate, there is still no guarantee of delivering the battleground state to the Democrats.

Gephardt is a national political figure, seasoned and vetted through almost three decades as congressman from St. Louis, one-time House Democratic leader and two-time losing candidate for his party's presidential nomination.

But many rural Missouri voters distrust big-city politicians. While his influence with the state's powerful players is undeniable, Gephardt has never run for statewide office and lacks the familiar profile and personal rapport that grows from traveling Missouri's back roads.

"I mostly know Gephardt from seeing him on 'Meet the Press,'" said Charles Christy, longtime Boone County Democratic Committee chairman. "Me, I like that young fellow from North Carolina. That John Edwards is a fresh face and exciting."

While high-profile Missouri Democrats are gleeful at the prospect of having a home-state friend on the national ticket -- "it will ignite the excitement!" declared state party chairwoman May Scheve Reardon -- many rank-and-file Democrats outside St. Louis expressed indifference about Gephardt, and in candid moments, a touch of resentment.

Gephardt visited Missouri Democrat Days, an annual party festival in Hannibal, during his losing 1988 bid for the party's presidential nomination. He won Missouri's primary that year.

He didn't stop in again until this year, once more wedging a winter Hannibal visit into a national campaign schedule. Daryl Boulware took due notice of the 16-year absence.

Democratic chairman in Clark County on the Missouri-Iowa border, Boulware said Friday that "to a certain extent we do feel forgotten by Gephardt unless he needs us. We are rural folks and sometimes we do feel neglected."

His first choice for Kerry's running mate? Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, who is said to be under consideration by Kerry, along with Gephardt, Edwards, Sen. Bob Graham of Florida and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, plus others.

On Friday, The Associated Press contacted 11 randomly selected county Democratic chairmen and chairwomen across Missouri to inquire what they would tell Kerry if he asked which prospective running mate would carry Missouri, which President Bush won in 2000.

Seven of the 11 promptly named Edwards, frequent second-place finisher to Kerry in early contests.

"Gephardt just doesn't have the get-up-and-go that Edwards has," said Irma Brannum of Poplar Bluff, Butler County party chairwoman.

"Edwards is the exciting one," said St. Charles County chairman Joe Koester.

In the Ozarks' Lawrence County, party chairman Jim Kabell recalled traveling seven times to Iowa to knock on doors for Gephardt -- but being dazzled by Edwards.

Greene County chairman Steve Stepp also liked Edwards, along with two military veterans -- retired Gen. Wesley Clark and former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland. Boulware named Vilsack.

Just two local chairmen offered Gephardt as their first choice.

One, not surprisingly, was state Rep. Fred Kratky, chairman of the city of St. Louis party committee and a longtime Gephardt ally. The other was Franz Penner of Lamar, chairman of the Barton County committee on the Kansas border, because "labor would surely turn out with Gephardt on the ticket. But maybe they would anyway."

Kratky said he is certain Gephardt would secure a Missouri victory "because he would be a favorite son and that must mean something."

"He is a straightforward guy with no baggage. He is reputable," Kratky added. "I'd tell someone from outstate that they just need to get to know him, they'd see for themselves."

It's a bit late in the game to get acquainted, replied Stepp, who calls himself a Gephardt admirer but notes that the congressman would be 71 years old if he ran for president himself in 2012, after two terms as Kerry's vice president. Stepp said strategists "must look to the long future about who could step in and run when Kerry leaves office."

Gephardt has delivered federal money and influence to St. Louis, to be sure, and boosters say a thriving St. Louis is good for the whole state's economy.

"The congressman has great experience, an outstanding resume and he is an incredibly tireless campaigner," said Reardon, who first started campaigning for Gephardt in 1987. "He has a very large following and as a running mate, it will ignite the excitement! There is no doubt that would clinch Missouri."

Robert Shettles has his doubts. A Clay County committee member in the Kansas City suburbs, Shettles long ago discounted the politician from faraway St. Louis.

"Before Gephardt became a presidential candidate, he had never been to this part of the state much," Shettles said, "and that kind of alienated me."