PRIMARY SEASON WRAPS UP; VOTERS GO TO POLS FOR TUESDAY ELECTION

Missouri's 1992 primary election campaign comes to a close Tuesday as voters across the state go to the polls to choose final slates for the Nov. 3 general election.

This year's primary has been an especially active one with five major candidates running for governor and the four other statewide offices on the ballot this year being vacated by incumbents seeking the chief executive's job.

It will also likely go down as the most expensive primary election year in the state's history. Candidates for governor alone have spent around $12 million going into the final weekend.

Polls will be open at 6 a.m. Tuesday and will close at 7 p.m. Voters will have to request a Democratic or Republican ballot at polling places. In most Bootheel counties there will be little activity in the Republican primary. Even though voters there have shown a willingness to vote for Republican candidates for higher offices, there are seldom Republicans running for county-wide offices. Most county races are settled in the Democratic primary.

Above the county level, races for the Missouri Senate seem to be getting the most attention in Southeast Missouri.

In the 27th District, where Sen. John Dennis is retiring, three Democrats have been actively working for the nomination of their party. Competing in that race are Bill Burch, a Sikeston businessman and former mayor; Betty Hearnes, former state representative and wife of former Gov. Warren Hearnes, who resides in Charleston; and Hugh White, who works for Wetterau Foods and has served on the city council in Cape Girardeau.

Republican Peter Kinder has no primary election opposition in that Senate race.

In the 25th District, Sen. Jerry Howard faces a tough re-election battle with Louie Snider, a Poplar Bluff businessman and former mayor of that city. Total expenditures in that contest have exceeded $100,000.

Bob Black, a Malden attorney, is also in the race. There is no Republican candidate.

The 25th District includes the counties of New Madrid, Stoddard, Pemiscot, Dunklin, Butler and Wayne.

Counties in the 27th are: Cape Girardeau, Perry, Madison, Bollinger, Scott and Mississippi.

There are two primary battles for state representative in Bootheel districts. No Republicans have filed. In the 160th District, state Reps. Dennis Ziegenhorn of Sikeston and Ollie Amick of Benton are pitted against each other. Redistricting left the two in the same district.

In the 162nd District, Opal Parks of Caruthersville is challenged for a fourth term by Donald Prost.

In the 26 counties of the 8th Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson is facing his first primary contest in 12 years, facing E. Earl Durnell, a Cabool cattle rancher.

Six Democrats are competing for the right to carry the party banner in November against the Republican House candidate. After several prominent Democrats decided against running, Wayne County Prosecutor Jon Kiser of Piedmont filed for the office. Kiser has gained support of prominent Democrats in the 8th District.

On Friday, Todd McBride, chairman of the 8th District Democratic Committee, held a news conference to announce he was endorsing Kiser for the nomination.

"He is far and away the frontrunner in this race," said McBride. "He has the experience and the ability to make changes that need to be made in this district."

Others in the primary race are: Thad Bullock of Cape Girardeau, making his sixth try; Jay Thompson, who is retired from the Navy and resides in Bourbon; Shannon Russell, who has farmed and worked as a union painter in Gideon; Dean Burk, a teacher who lives in northern Washington County near DeSoto; and Johnny Dover, a factory worker from Bell City.

There are five constitutional amendments on the statewide ballot. Many cities, counties and school districts are offering local proposals.

Amendment 5 would allow cities, counties and school districts to vote to increase their bonded indebtedness by five percent to generate funds for retrofitting buildings to meet seismic design standards; Amendment 7 raises the minimum tax levy for school districts from $1.25 to $2, and it also raises the maximum tax levy school districts could adopt without a vote or with a simple majority; Amendment 8 increases the counties share of the new state gas tax money from 10 percent to 15 percent; Amendment 9 limits commercial property tax surcharge levies to 1992 receipts, with an adjustment for inflation and new construction; and Amendment 11 earmarks all lottery proceeds for education.

At the top of Tuesday's ballot will be the race for U.S. senator. Republican Christopher Bond, seeking his second term, is opposed in the primary by Wes Hummel.

Fourteen Democrats are vying for the right to challenge Bond in November. Among the more active candidates are: Mert Bernstein, a Washington University law professor who is endorsed by farm activist Wayne Cryts of Puxico; Geri Rothman-Serot, the former wife of former Lt. Gov. Ken Rothman, now serving as a member of the St. Louis County Council; Dan Dodson, a Jefferson City attorney; Bill Peacock, a St. Louis attorney; and Carol A. Coe, a member of the city council in Kansas City.

Polls have shown no candidate emerging as a strong choice among Democrats.

Among the seven Democrats running for governor, Lt. Gov. Mel Carnahan and St. Louis Mayor Vince Schoemehl are the major candidates.

On the Republican side, a five candidate field is headed by Attorney General William Webster, Secretary of State Roy Blunt and State Treasurer Wendell Bailey. Polls throughout the campaign have shown Webster leading the field, although both Blunt and Bailey have strong bases of support they hope will enable them to close the gap by Tuesday.

Outside the governor's race, the contest drawing the most attention in the Missouri primary is for attorney general.

On the Republican side, David Steelman, a former minority leader in the Missouri House, now a Rolla attorney, is in a hot race with John Hall, a former aide to Sen. John Danforth and former assistant U.S. attorney in St. Louis.

Hall has been endorsed by Danforth, while Steelman has been endorsed by Rolla businessman John Powell, a powerful force in the Missouri Republican Party. With party activists, the race has been viewed as a Powell-Danforth confrontation.

Both Hall and Steelman have waged aggressive media campaigns focusing on differences and distortions in their records.

Democrats have four candidates actively seeking the nomination, and, although there have been some charges and counter charges between candidates, their intensity has been less than the GOP race.

Democrats running are: state Sen. Jay Nixon of Hillsboro, an unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidate in 1988; Mike Wolff, a St. Louis University law professor, who was the Democratic nominee in 1988; Neal Quitno, the prosecuting attorney of Vernon County; and Mike Reardon, the prosecuting attorney of Clay County.

For lieutenant governor, state Sen. Roger Wilson of Columbia seems to be the favored candidate among Democrats. But three others in the race have been campaigning around the state: Rich Bullet Train Pisani, a St. Louis businessman trying to promote the need for high speed trains in the state to help attract the 2004 Olympic games; Mary Ross, a member of the St. Louis city council; and Larry Rice of New Bloomfield, a noted advocate for the homeless, low income citizens and other causes.

State Auditor Margaret Kelly is heavily favored to win a three-candidate race for the GOP nomination.

Four Democrats have been actively working for secretary of state: Howard Wagner, the Jefferson County circuit clerk, who has been endorsed by former Secretary of State Jim Kirkpatrick; James J. Askew of St. Louis, the party's nominee in 1988 running for the sixth time; state Rep. Bob Quinn of St. Louis; and Judi Moriarty, the county clerk of Pettis County.

Republicans also have four aggressive candidates seeking the post: state Rep. Craig Kilby of Lake St. Louis; Greene County Clerk Richard Struckhoff; Don Parker, auditor of Clay County; and state Rep. John Hancock of St. Louis County.

Democrats have a three-way race for treasurer that includes Cole County Auditor Jim LePage, former state Rep. Bob Holden of St. Louis, and former state Rep. Jerry Welch of St. Louis County.

Holden, who lost a close race to Bailey for the office in 1988, and LePage have been the most active. The two have argued over their qualifications for the office and over the size of campaign contributions.

Ozark County Treasurer Gary Melton and state Rep. Mark Holloway of Maryland Heights, are the two Republicans running for treasurer.

Monday: County races for Tuesday's primary are detailed.