Minnesota Gears Up for Event That May Top the Super Bowl : Midwest: Democrats, Republicans in the state vie for hosting honors when the Gorbachevs come to call.

Mikhail Gorbachev may be engaged in superpower summitry with a Republican President, but the moment he arrives in Minnesota on Sunday he belongs to the Democrats.

Gorbachev will get only a six-hour glimpse of the American heartland as he and his wife, Raisa, stop in Minneapolis and St. Paul to lunch with Gov. Rudy Perpich and meet with business leaders before flying on to San Francisco.

Nevertheless, Minnesotans are gearing up for what Perpich calls a bigger day for the Twin Cities than even the 1992 Super Bowl.

From the freshly planted petunias to the welcoming signs in Russian along the motorcade routes, from the Gorby T-shirts to the 100 miles of red ribbon bedecking the streets, Minneapolis and St. Paul are in the feverish grip of Gorbymania.

The state’s Republicans, although they are not saying so openly for fear of being cast as spoilsports, are privately worried that some of Gorbachev’s glow will rub off on Perpich, a Democrat who faces a tough reelection campaign this year.

A political eccentric whose popularity is sagging, Perpich has been dogged by the unflattering but popular nickname of “Gov. Goofy” as he makes his bid for an unprecedented fourth term.

His opponents have sought to minimize the boost that the visit may give him. But most of the local pundits are predicting that, at the very least, Gorbachev should help the governor shed some of his goofy image in advance of the Democratic Party’s state convention, which opens just five days after the Soviet leader leaves.

“People were rolling in the streets with laughter when Perpich announced he was inviting Gorbachev to Minnesota,” said D. J. Leary, a prominent Minnesota political consultant. “The jokes about Gorby and Goofy were endless. But now that he’s actually coming, a lot of the goofiness no longer seems so goofy.”

Rudy Boschwitz, one of Minnesota’s two Republican senators, is still catching flak because of a report that he tried to scuttle the visit to prevent Perpich from reaping any political rewards. Although Boschwitz strenuously denied the report, the White House was clearly worried enough about the political connotations of the visit to put him on the plane flying Gorbachev from Washington to Minnesota.

“Look for Boschwitz to dog Perpich throughout the visit,” one political insider said. “He’ll be there to inject a Republican presence in an otherwise Democratic show.”

Politics seems to matter less to most Minnesotans than the opportunity offered by the visit to show off what many feel is their state’s long-overlooked virtues.

“Sure, there’ll be a lot of boosterism,” said Neal Kielar, an official with the Greater Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce. “But it’s boosterism without a negative connotation. Minnesota and the Twin Cities area especially are headquarters to a lot of major companies, and we’re trying to put a positive spin on the idea of Minnesota becoming a real player in the international business market.”

It is also, adds Leary, a matter of pride.

“You have to remember who you’re dealing with in Minnesota,” he said. “You’re dealing with people who’ve always felt in second place. We had two vice presidents who could never make it to President, we lost the Super Bowl and the way we brag about our cold weather, we could qualify for the cover of S&M; Monthly, if there were such a thing. So when anything good happens around here, there’s a little glow that goes with it.”

That glow should brighten to a shine Sunday. Unlike the last Soviet leader to visit the Midwest--Nikita S. Khrushchev in 1959--Gorbachev is coming here not to bury capitalism but to praise it.

His brief visit affords no time for speeches, but the Soviet leader has expressed a keen desire to see a typical American farm.

Raisa Gorbachev, meanwhile, will spend some time in the home of a “typical American family”--one that, at her request, includes at least three children and a dog. That will be the family of Steve and Karen Watson, who have four children and an Irish setter named Bonnie.

The Watsons, who live in south Minneapolis, were picked for this assignment because of their 13-year-old daughter Lisa, a member of the Children’s Theater Company, which performed in Moscow last year.

“The governor’s office called us about two weeks ago,” said Steve Watson, who teaches art at an elementary school. “We said yes, and half an hour later they were at the front door--the governor, his wife Lola, the Secret Service and all these American and Soviet advance people.”

The advance team inserted the Watsons in a still-fluid itinerary that also includes a meeting with more than 100 local business executives whose companies are footing the bill for the visit.

Nobody is saying how much it will cost--not because it’s a secret but because nobody is keeping track.

“The business community has said they’ll cover it,” Leary said. “They’ve given the organizers what amounts to a blank check.”

Most estimates are in the six figures, reflecting the costs of providing communications facilities and food for what could be as many as 8,000 journalists, security personnel and other officials converging on Minneapolis for the day. Police leaves have been canceled, and National Guard units are being called out to help with the security.

Community leaders say the influx of so many people should generate as much as $10 million for the local economy. Shop owners report brisk sales of Gorbachev T-shirts, key rings and even full-face masks--accurate right down to the birthmark on the forehead.