St. Louis woman wins tickets to see Bush at fund raiser

ST. LOUIS -- Jacque Niekamp can't grouse anymore about never winning anything, now that the suburban St. Louis homemaker has bagged something more than 2,500 people had coveted -- two tickets worth $2,000 to see President Bush here Monday.

The Republican woman's good fortune Saturday perhaps frustrated some Democrats, who apparently had visited Senate hopeful Jim Talent's Web site to sign a pro-Bush petition to register for the freebie tickets to the GOP candidate's Monday night fund raiser.

Talent had admitted the giveaway was a way to get Missourians -- folks like the Republican Niekamp, not necessarily political opponents -- to visit his site.

Winning the tickets to the $1,000-per-person event at the Edward Jones Dome, Niekamp said, left her "very pleasantly surprised."

"I'm not usually prone to win things. This was an extra treat," said the 58-year-old woman, describing herself and husband Pete as lifelong Republicans, devoted GOP volunteers and longtime backers of Talent, a former congressman. "Jim's one of our favorites."

Talent, 45, narrowly lost the governor's race in 2000, when Republican John Ashcroft lost his second-term bid to the late Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan, who died three weeks before the election in a plane crash. Carnahan's widow, Jean Carnahan, was appointed to serve for two years and is campaigning for the remaining four years of the term, as is Talent.

Talent filed for election March 7, Carnahan last Monday.

Party sent e-mail

Hoping to throw a wrench in Talent's ticket giveaway, Missouri Democrats urged party faithful in an e-mail last week to enter to "win the lottery and help us defeat Jim Talent."

"The Missouri Democratic Party would like to win those tickets so we can ask Jim Talent a few questions on behalf of Missouri's working families," the e-mail read. Carnahan's supporters have criticized Talent for his votes on unemployment benefits, job training and the minimum wage.

Nancy Tully, the Missouri Democratic Party's spokeswoman, logged onto Talent's Web site, signed the petition and hoped for the best, only to learn Saturday she didn't win.

"On a personal level, I'm disappointed. It would have been an interesting event," she said. But "a good Republican won. Let her go and have fun."

Tully said she had no idea how many Democrats followed the e-mail's lead and signed up for the gratis tickets to a GOP event. Talent doesn't know that answer, either, but said "I sure like people of all political beliefs to check out my Web site."

'I don't feel badly'

Niekamp says she doesn't mind foiling any Democratic hopes for the freebie tickets.

"I don't feel badly about that at all," said Niekamp, who plans to take her husband to Monday night's event, if the 62-year-old retired engineer trying to keep colon cancer in check feels up to it after his scheduled chemotherapy earlier that day. If not, Niekamp's mother will escort her.

Either way, Talent appears pleased that the tickets went to Kiekamp, whose name he recognized as one of his previous supporters when his daughter drew it Saturday morning.

"From that standpoint, I was pleased that someone so helpful had won the ticket," he said.