MUCH PLANNING WENT INTO CAMPAIGN VISIT

The difference between a front-runner and the rest of the pack in a presidential race is money and organization.

Most people know that with a $37 million purse Gov. George W. Bush has the edge in the Republican primary in terms of money.

But he also has organization. As he lands in Cape Girardeau Wednesday, his appearance won't be the result of last-minute work but of an organized effort several weeks in the making.

Because U.S. Sen. Christopher Bond, U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson and state Sen. Peter Kinder have all endorsed Bush, the Texas governor is able to tap into their organizations for his bid for the presidency.

"The Emerson organization has been around since 1980," said Lloyd Smith, Emerson's chief of staff. "We have a full-time campaign organization that is able to handle just about anything that comes down the pike."

With Emerson's help, Bush is able to access an organization that is almost 20 years old. This means he has local people who know Cape Girardeau and who will pitch in and help get everything ready for his stop.

The local organization helps provide the contact information to the national organization and works with them in hammering out details. In fact, it was Emerson's and Kinder's idea to get Bush to come to Cape Girardeau.

Once the stop was planned, then it was time to find places for him to go. It was decided he would attend a fund raiser and make an appearance at the Southeast Missouri Regional Port at 10 a.m. Thursday as a public event.

About three or four days before the event, an advance team came to town to make sure everything was going according to plan. The teams generally are made up of three people: a team leader, one who handles all press-related business and one in charge of the site and scheduling matters.

Brian Montgomery, Bush's director of advance, said most of the people on the teams are volunteers. He said the organization has hired two people to do advance work, and there about 100 volunteers nationwide who help make the campaign stops happen.

The advance team puts the finishing details on what the local people have already done. They make sure the place is ready for Bush's arrival and leave no stones unturned.

For instance, Dan Overbey, director of the Southeast Missouri Port Authority, will have to shut down a conveyor so the crowd at the port will be able to hear Bush speak. Overbey also will be doing some cleaning and maintenance work in preparation for the visit.

Bush will speak about farm issues, which is why the port was chosen for his visit. The Mississippi River is a vital part of the farming industry, a point the Bush campaign knows.

The crowd will be able to gather at a two-acre lot that used to store silica, which is akin to sand and gravel. The silica was shipped to Southern Illinois on eight barges.

"What was left makes kind of a nice parking lot right by the harbor," Overbey said.

Details that did not go unnoticed by the local organization and the advance team. Overbey said he has to supply drinking water, and they are in the process of obtaining portable toilets.

The gathering at the port is not intended to be a rally. Montgomery said it is meant to provide a backdrop to Bush's message.

"The principle objective is to give the candidate the best opportunity to convey his message," Montgomery said.

In the wake of a drought and being in a farm community, the message will be about agriculture. But the message is not just for Missourians gathered at Cape Girardeau. Smith said there are similarities between the farming communities of Southeast Missouri and rural Iowa where Bush hopes to win an important straw poll that can spell the beginning or the end for presidential hopefuls.

But as the campaign orchestrates the stop, perhaps the most important factor is the impression Bush leaves with crowds --- an impression that will be important for the many people such as Smith who are working for the campaign but have never met the candidate.

"The reaction we get from attendees is a huge sense of curiosity of seeing this man in person," Montgomery said. "We hear comments such as 'He looks like his father' or 'He looked me straight in the eye and told me what he believes' and 'He made me feel like I was the only person there.'"