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http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/10301982.htm

It's not quite the Oval Office ...

By LISA GUTIERREZ
Kansas City Star


KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Want ad: Desperately Seeking John.

As in John Kerry.
As in the guy who lost the presidential election earlier this month.

He has a place of honor waiting for him in Norton, Kan., a town of about 3,000 in the northwestern part of the state, halfway between Kansas City and Denver. It's in the Gallery of Also-Rans, the only private gallery of presidential losers in the country.

Trouble is, the curator is having a tough time tracking down an official, 16-by-20-inch, black-and-white portrait of Kerry to hang on the wall.

"The Library of Congress, where we usually get them, doesn't have one. So I faxed the John Kerry headquarters to see if they have something," says curator Diana McGee, the secretary and receptionist at First State Bank in Norton, where the gallery is located.

She's still waiting.

She had the same problem securing a picture of Al Gore in 2000. Her local congressman's office ended up helping, but it still took three months to get one. She has asked them to intercede again this year.

Having your portrait hang in a runners-up gallery might seem an inauspicious "honor" at best. But, actually, the collection of portraits, displayed on the bank's mezzanine, began in 1965 as sincere homage. The bank's former owner, the late W.W. Rouse, conceived it after reading a book about presidential wannabes.

About 75 visitors stop by each year, though traffic usually picks up in an election year - about 100 have seen it this year.

"I think some people think it's a joke, and it really isn't, because Bill Rouse ... was really interested in history, and he really thought this was an honor, that anyone who ran for president was pretty important," McGee said.

Sen. John Kerry will keep luminous company here.

The display - framed portraits with biographies beneath - begins with a picture of the Sage of Monticello himself, Thomas Jefferson, who lost his first bid for the presidency in 1796.

And there are some election losers here who actually were presidents - John Quincy Adams, Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon, George Herbert Walker Bush and Gerald Ford.

(Ford's portrait has been known to fall off the wall.)

None of the candidates has ever visited, says McGee, who says her dilemma would be solved if Kerry would drop by for a quick photo. "Otherwise I'll have to go to Washington with my camera," she says.

There's a special place waiting just for him. He'll get the last open spot on the wall.

Info. Box:

The Gallery of Also-Rans in Norton, Kan., is open during banking hours 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Admission is free. Telephone (785) 877-3341 or visit www.firstatebank.com.


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