WHEAT KICKS OFF CAMPAIGN FOR U.S. SENATE

U.S. Rep. Alan Wheat will be in Cape Girardeau Thursday morning as part of a statewide swing kicking off his candidacy for the United States Senate.

The 42-year-old, six-term congressman from Kansas City is seeking the Democratic nomination in hopes of succeeding retiring Sen. John Danforth. He started his three-day campaign kickoff tour Tuesday. He intends to file Tuesday in Jefferson City, the first day candidates can file for offices on the ballot in 1994.

Wheat will make his announcement in Cape Girardeau at 9:50 a.m. in the University Center's University Room at Southeast Missouri State.

During stops Tuesday Wheat listed health care, education, job security and personal safety as the top issues in his campaign. "These are the real problem of real Missourians," he said.

A Texas native who graduated from high school in Louisiana, Wheat earned an economics degree from Grinnell College in Iowa in 1972. He represented a district from Kansas City in the Missouri House before winning his congressional seat in 1982.

Wheat is trying to become the first black to win statewide office in Missouri. The 5th District he represents now is 80 percent white. He carried the district easily with 68 percent of the vote in 1992 and with 62 percent in 1990.

Other Democrats seeking the nomination are Jackson County Executive Marsha Murphy, State Rep. Steve Carroll of Hannibal, and St. Louis attorney Gerald Ortbals.

The likely Republican nominee is former Gov. John Aschroft, who formally kicked off his campaign last week.