The Springfield News-Leader from Springfield, Missouri • Page 15

INSIGHT The First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting nn establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. 5B The News-Leader Sunday, November 13, 1988 To express your opinion, write us a note mm Gephardt plans to lead party revival Carnahan is hope for future llliiy, I By Robert Edwards The News-Leader Most of the political stars holding statewide office in Missouri are Republican. The Constellation Pachydermia, if you will. Keeping the Democrats from the dark side of the moon as far as a statewide presence is Rolla attorney Mel Carnahan, who won Tuesday as lieutenant governor. This former state treasurer was the only Democrat to capture a statewide post, and he stands as that party's most logical candidate for governor in 1992.

"He is extremely well-qualified. He's a man, I think, of tremendous integrity and just impeccable character," said retiring state Rep. Fred Lynn, D-Springfield, who added that he would have no problem backing Carnahan for governor. "With due respect to the Republicans," Lynn said, "they have fielded attractive candidates. We have just not had formidable candidates to oppose them.

But in Mel Carnahan, we'd have one of the most attractive and formidable." "He's politically astute, he's held one statewide office, he has some contacts and you can start a rebuilding process around Mel," said former state treasurer and onetime Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Spainhower, a college president in St. Charles. Carnahan, who lost the Democratic primary for governor in 1984 to Ken Rothman, said he's not focusing on 1992. But obviously he's in a position to take on the likely GOP candidate for governor, Attorney General Bill Webster. "Other people mention it more than 1 think about it," he said.

"I have my hands full taking hold of lieutenant governor and finding my place and a means of being effective. That'll be a sufficient job for me for the next year or so." Carnahan also will work on rejuvenating the Democratic Party. i Rejuvenate. Reorganize. Revitalize.

Those are words Democrats have been using after every election since 1980. "I've said those words before, but I have not come in as a player where I could do very much about it," Carnahan said. "I'm going to try to follow through. I will assume a leadership role. 1 will not attempt to do it in any exclusive fashion." He said he and U.S.

Rep. Richard Gephardt of St. Louis already have discussed working together. Others involved will be House Speaker Bob Griffin, D-Cameron, and Sen-ate President Pro Tern Jim Math-ewson, D-Sedalia. The Democrats retain control of the legislature.

The biggest need, as Carnahan Please see WINNERPage8B First lady Holden: No regrets after defeat in treasurer's race a chink in the Republican armor. The Associated Press ST. LOUIS Congressman Richard Gephardt has pledged to be a leader in the effort to rejuvenate and reorganize the Missouri Democrat Party, which suffered heavy losses in Tuesday's election. "I do think we need to form a team, and I'm willing to be a leader of that team," Gephardt said Wednesday, a day after easily winning re-election over Republican Mark "Thor" Hearne. "Some kind of group is going to have to sit down and decide how to make the party work." Only one Democratic candidate, Lt.

Gov. Mel Carnahan, won election to a state-wide post in the election, and many of the losing candidates were defeated by wide margins. Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis also failed to carry the state, although he lost by only 77,000 votes out of more than 2 million cast. In the wake of the Gephardt said one of the key aims would be improve funding in the party. "As it is now, the candidates have to fund the (state) party instead of the other way around," Gephardt said.

"All of our candidates were outspent (by Republicans), and some were outspent wildly." Gephardt is considered a nation-al party figure as a result of his' unsuccessful bid for the Democrat- ic presidential nomination, but he said he planned to make the rebuilding of the Missouri party one of his key projects during the next two years. pay off his campaign debt, and looking to the future. "I lost but I feel very good about it. I'm looking to move forward. I want to build a community called Missouri that we'll be proud to turn over to the next generation.

That's really my theme," he said. Holden said he intends to run for office again, and although he won't commit publicly to a second bid for treasurer, he said, "It's a strong option that I'll run again in four years." As for his opponent in the treasurer's race, Holden called him a force to be reckoned with in the future. "I think Wendell will probably look at running for governor or U.S. Senate," he said. "We'll probably see a good, strong two-way or three-way race for governor or senator in 1992 because as one radio commentator said, 'He took the Democrats' best shot in this race and nobody's there photographing you or taking a shot at you.

Life in the White House, she said, was more trying than anyone could realize but "I don't want to sound like I don't love this house, because I do. I really do. 1 understand now what they were saying to me in the beginning, that the people who have been here for a long time, they really love this house. I understand that now and 1 love the house." The first lady said that she worries more about a recurrence of her husband's cancer than her own, because "I can't imagine life without him." When the president was informed that his wife had breast cancer, he laid his head in his hands and cried, she said. Her own reaction to the diagnosis was: "Well, I guess it's my turn." Fear of a recurrence "is there in the back of your mind.

Well, you just try to keep it in the back of your mind." After she leaves the White House, Mrs. Reagan said, she wants to give speeches about coping with cancer. She said that she is looking forward to regaining a measure of privacy, particularly on matters of their health. "I'm looking forward to not being under the microscope so much," shi; said. But there are some things she will miss.

"I'll miss Air Force One, from what I hear about air travel." feat by incumbent Gov. John Ash- croft and Nixon ran just as poorly against two-term Sen. Jack Panforth. "Jay made the comment that if he and Betty had run stronger, 1 would been elected," Holden said. "But I don't really buy that." Holden said he ran well in St.

Louis and Kansas City, but lost the race in central and southeast Missouri. However, he said he made some gains for Democrats in some traditionally Republican areas, including Clay and Platte counties and southwest Missouri. Although Holden lost most counties in the southwest corner of the state, he said he did better there than other Democrats on the ticket. "Most Democrats lost the area by 7B.000 votes, but we lost by 25,000," he said. "When you've got Ashcroft, (Secretary of State Roy) Blunt, (Mel) Hancock, (George) Bush and (President Ronald) Reagan all campaigning down there in the last 10 days of the campaign, to By Terri Glelch Our Capital Bureau JEFFERSON CITY Bob Hold-en has no regrets about a campaign that fell just three points short of catapulting him into the state treasurer's office, even though that campaign also left him out of a job and $40,000 in debt.

The Springfield Democrat gave incumbent Treasurer Wendell Bailey a long and nerve-wracking wait on election night, in what proved to be the closest statewide race on Tuesday's ballot, lt was after 1 a.m. Wednesday before it was clear that Bailey had withstood Holden's assault. After Holden's concession, Bailey admitted he had been prepared to lose and said, "It looked very bad for a long time." Holden was seen by state Democrats as one of their best hopes for loosening the Republican stranglehold on five of six state posts. Bailey, on the other hand, was seen as Holden blamed his defeat on a shortage of funds and said, "The feeling I get from people Is that I ran as perfect a campaign as I could have with the money I raised. We raised $400,000 and put $200,000 into TV I think we marshaled our resources well." Holden said he needed more money in the final days of the campaign to build up name identification and to counter Bailey ads denouncing Holden for accepting $35,000 in contributions from a bank interested in doing business with the state.

What Holden would have been quick to point out, if he'd had the money, was that Bailey himself had accepted $40,000 from the bank during his 1984 race. Holden refused to pin the blame for his loss on the weak showing by Betty Hearnes and Jay Nixon, the Democrats who headed the ticket. Hearnes was dealt a stunning de lose by 25,000 votes, that's pretty good." Perhaps more disheartening than Holden's loss to Bailey is that the 136th District House seat he held for three terms is now in the hands of a Republican B.J. Marsh. "The toughest time I had wasn't losing Tuesday night, it was on Wednesday, when I was driving around the (Southwest Missouri State University) campus and I saw the performing arts center that is not built yet that I want to see built," Holden said.

The Springfield Democrat was chairman of a House appropriations committee and made capital projects at SMS one of his priorities while he was in the legislature. Holden helped win a $5 million state appropriation for the performing arts center. Now Holden is looking for a job in the field of economic development, looking to contributors to help him raise enough money to on the board of the school, I was tells of life in White House and under microscope the Dresident's colon cancer sur I think it will be seen in the context it should be seen in that he was badly served by people on his First Lady Nancy Reagan Vs. By Betty Cuniberti The Los Angeles Times WASHINGTON First lady Nancy Reagan said that she felt compelled to exert her influence fiuring President Reagan's eight years in office because he was poor-hy served by aides who pushed their own agendas over his. "I don't feel his staff served him well, in general," Nancy Reagan said in a wide-ranging interview.

I The first lady readily acknowledged that she wielded influence over her husband on some personnel decisions, a practice that has generated debate about the proper role of a president's wife. But she defended her actions as necessary to counter Reagan's own aides. "Of course," she said, and "in no way do I apologize for it. "I'm more aware if somebody is trying to end-run him and have their own agenda," she added. "I'm rhore aware of that than he is.

It just never occurs to him that anybody Is going to do that." She said that "the best example" of the staff's failure was the Iran-Contra scandal, in which White House aides sold arms to Iran in hopes of freeing American hostages and directed the profits to rebels in Nicaragua. She maintained that the scandal would not dim history's view of hr-r husband. "I think It will be seen in the gery). The doctor had said six weeks' recovery, which is a normal recovery period, and he (Regan) wanted him to have a press conference and give speeches two weeks after this. And I said: 'No.

No Regan interpreted this as meddling, Nancy Reagan recalled. "But a first lady is a wife, first of all," she insisted. "That comes first for me. I'm sure with everybody that comes first. And I certainly felt that for Ronnie's interest it was to his interest." Did she insist that Regan be fired, as was widely reported at the time? "No," Mrs.

Reagan replied, adding, "Well, again, this is going into my book." The autobiography will straighten out misperceptions about her "so-called influence," she said. Her actions focused on the staff, she insisted, and had nothing to do with such policy questions as arms control. Not a 'lunch bunch girl' Nancy Reagan made it clear that she will always resent stories depicting her as a shallow devotee of the worlds of fashion, beauty and luxury. She volunteered, for Instance, that she was upset eight years ago by a report that described her as "a lunch bunch girl." "1 never was. I never was!" she Insisted.

"1 was too busy. 1 had young kids. 1 was car-pooling, I was i going to school fairs, I had the hot dog stand. I just I was never a lunch bunch girl." As for the more recent controversy over her practice of borrowing high-priced fashions from favorite designers, despite a promise not to, she would say only. "I don't want to (comment).

I think everybody else is making comments that aren't very nice and I don't want to get it's an old story." Under the microscope The fashion issue, along with controversies over the first lady's redecoration of the White House living quarters and replacement of the presidential china, arose early in president Reagan's first year in office. She has described the period also marked by the assassination attempt on her husband as "a lost year," The unrelenting media scrutiny, coupled with stepped-up security measures after the shooting, all but imprisoned the Reagans when they were anywhere but at the secluded presidential retreat at Camp David, she indicated. "I think it's gotten more and more confining," she said. "It's not a comfortable feeling. It's not comfortable.

That's why Camp David is so important, because you have to have a place to get away to, that you can just put on a pair of blue jeans and go out and ride or do whatever you want to do. And you're OK and their first-born child, Pattl Davis. The first lady insisted on leaving some topics, such as her interest in astrology, to the autobiography she is writing "to set the record straight on a lot of things." She apparently is hoping that the book will counter the recent flood of negative "kiss-and-tell" accounts from former White House officials. That torrent began in earnest this spring when former White House chief of staff Donald T. Regan's book revealed her interest in astrology and depicted her as an interfering tyrant of questionable mental stability.

She showed particular ire for Regan, apparently blaming him for having failed to adequately inform the president about the lran-Contra events, as well as for refusing to cooperate with her. "Well, it was difficult," she said of her relationship with Regan. "I think we probably had our first run-in at the hospital with Ronnie (after context it should be seen in that he was badly served by people on his staff," she said. Nancy Reagan made the comments during an interview Oct. 18 in the White House Map Room.

She spoke candidly under the agreement that her comments would not be published before the presidential election. Setting the record straight Lacing her remarks with tears and laughter, she touched on subjects ranging from her influence, her image and her bout with breast cancer to her reluctance to remain in Washington for a second term and the confinement of the White House. She painted a portrait of a presidential couple increasingly dependent on each other in the face of betrayal by staff members, unsympathetic treatment by the press, threats to their security and health, the death of both of her parents and Reaftans' estrangement from A.