The High Jumper from St. Louis Missouri

By John S. DeMott

Not since James Garfield managed the feat in 1880 has a political candidate succeeded in leaping from the House of Representatives to the White House, although several have tried, including Publisher-Politician William Randolph Hearst in 1904 and Independent Candidate John Anderson in 1980. Last week Democratic Congressman Richard Gephardt of St. Louis announced that he would be the next to attempt the toughest political high jump of all.

Flanked by bunting, two marching bands, a full choir, 2,800 flag-waving supporters, his mother, his photogenic wife Jane, his three children and many of the local and national politicians who have endorsed him, Gephardt became the first Democrat to declare his candidacy for the 1988 presidential race. Invoking the legacy of Harry Truman, the Show Me State's last occupant of the Oval Office, Gephardt said last week, "I'm not doing this because I want an office but because I want to change this country. I want this country to be great again."

Although Gephardt, 46, is nearly invisible in the polls, he hopes to get off to a strong start in the Iowa caucuses. For a year he has been working at an election-year pace, taking only Sundays off. He has visited Iowa so often -- 27 times since 1985 -- that he has been nicknamed "Iowa's seventh Congressman" (the state has six). The boyish-looking lawyer's penchant for work is well known: after arriving in Washington in 1977, he quickly rose through Congress to become chairman of the House Democratic Caucus in 1984. He was the co-sponsor with New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley of the Bradley- Gephardt tax-reform proposal, one of the prototypes for the sweeping revision of the tax code that was enacted last summer. Gephardt intends to tap that success for all it is worth, stressing that he can "take the ideas and make them happen, get them through Congress."

Gephardt has been one of the loudest proponents in Congress for reversing the nation's $170 billion trade deficit through tougher legislation, including retaliatory measures against countries that refuse to open their markets to U.S. goods. He said last week, "People sitting in cushy offices, in secure jobs, have no right to tell workers on assembly lines that their livelihoods have to be sacrificed on the altar of a false and rigid free-trade ideology."

Gephardt's status as the only announced Democrat will not last long. Former Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt has formed a campaign committee. Arkansas Senator Dale Bumpers is nearing a decision. Last week Illinois Senator Paul Simon declared his support for Bumpers and said he would not run. Better-known Democrats -- Colorado's Gary Hart, Delaware Senator Joe Biden and Jesse Jackson -- are also looming as candidates but are not expected to make their declarations until later this year.

Nor will Gephardt long stand alone as the sole challenger from the House. Republican Jack Kemp from Buffalo has all but announced his candidacy. Kemp has already been tilting against Vice President George Bush, the G.O.P. front runner, whose campaign got a boost last week with the endorsement of New Hampshire Governor John Sununu.

While the support for Bush from the shrewd and successful Sununu is no surprise, its timing is important. In Iowa polls, Bush has lagged behind Senator Bob Dole, who will announce formation of an exploratory campaign committee this week. But Bush has remained ahead in New Hampshire. The Governor's nod could help keep him there for the first primary of 1988.

With reporting by Michael Duffy/St. Louis