VICE PRESIDENT LIKELY TO VISIT CITY ON FRIDAY

The presidential campaign spotlight likely will move back to Cape Girardeau Friday, as preliminary planning is under way for a visit by Vice President Dan Quayle.

Final plans have not been made for the visit; however, Secret Service and campaign aides have been laying the groundwork for a visit since the middle of last week.

Aides to the vice president are expected to be in Cape Girardeau today to begin making final plans, including the selection of a site where Quayle will speak.

He is scheduled to speak at a meeting of the Missouri Bar Association Friday morning in Springfield, and would come here early in the afternoon.

Cape Girardeau Police Chief Howard Boyd Jr. said Monday he has had some discussion with officials about a Quayle visit but has not received direct confirmation.

"We are aware that a visit may in fact occur," said Boyd. "We will provide whatever assistance is necessary."

Lloyd Smith, chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, said Monday that the congressman's office was called about a possible visit, but they too are awaiting official confirmation.

"We were called, but we have not been given a word strong enough where no one is doing anything different than going about their daily business," said Smith.

"Our campaign is not involved in doing anything but the campaign at hand for Congressman Emerson."

If the vice president comes to Cape Girardeau, Emerson's campaign staff will be involved in helping with the event.

Callers to the Republican State Committee headquarters were advised Monday that a stop in Cape Girardeau was being mentioned, but it might be Wednesday before final plans were made.

Quayle would be the third presidential campaign figure to visit Cape Girardeau this month. On Sept. 16, First Lady Barbara Bush attended the Southeast Missouri District Fair; Friday Tipper Gore, the wife of Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Albert Gore, spoke at a campaign rally on the Common Pleas Courthouse lawn.

The last sitting vice president to make a campaign stop in Cape Girardeau was George Bush in 1984, when he spoke in the University Center Ballroom. In 1980, then-vice president Walter Mondale spoke at an airport rally on the weekend before the election.

Although this is Quayle's first visit to Cape Girardeau, his wife, Marilyn, spoke at a fund-raising breakfast for Emerson in October 1990 and also toured the Womancare area at St. Francis Medical Center.

Former president Reagan visited the city in 1988 and spoke at the Show Me Center in an appearance regarded as "official" rather than "political."