PEROT CAMPAIGN COLLECTS OVER 9,000 SIGNATURES IN 8TH DISTRICT

More than 9,000 voters in the 8th Congressional District have signed petitions to place the name of Texas billionaire Ross Perot on the presidential ballot in Missouri.

Gil Degenhardt, 8th District coordinator for Perot, said Thursday that petitions containing 9,006 voter signatures had been received at the district headquarters in Cape Girardeau.

The drive topped the 9,000 mark today, and Degenhardt felt it was a noteworthy accomplishment. More than 440 signatures arrived in the mail today.

"At this rate, we could break through 11,000 here, which is more than we had the first time," he said. "We had just under 10,000 last time."

Statewide, nearly 100,000 Perot petition signatures were set aside in late May amid allegations that some people listed as presidential electors weren't loyal to Perot. The new petitions offer a different slate of electors committed to Perot.

This second petition drive has collected nearly 100,000 voter signatures statewide in less than a month, Perot supporters announced Wednesday.

Degenhardt said he's confident that the petition drive will break the 10,000 signature mark in the 25-county 8th District.

He said the petition drive in the Southeast Missouri area will end around July 6. Statewide, the petitions are expected to be delivered to the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City as part of a July 18 rally to which Perot has been invited.

"We had a big surge of people at Riverfest," he pointed out. "The experience down there was something else."

More than 1,100 voters signed Perot petitions at the Riverfest celebration, held earlier this month in downtown Cape Girardeau.

Degenhardt estimated that of the more than 9,000 voters who have signed Perot petitions, about 4,000 are from Cape Girardeau and Scott counties.

He said more people are circulating Perot petitions in the 8th District this second time around and the general public is more aware of this petition drive.

"The event of the other petitions being canceled out really gave us a media exposure that we didn't have before," he pointed out.

Many of those signing petitions now also signed the first petitions, Degenhardt said. But, he added, they are also getting signatures from people who had not signed any previous petition for Perot.

Degenhardt said voters continue to come into the Perot headquarters at 1428 N. Kingshighway to sign petitions, although not in the numbers they did several weeks ago.

"They are continuing to come in. It is not as high, but it is a steady stream," he said.