Carnahan's Widow Enters Campaign

Oct. 30, 2000 -- Jean Carnahan, wife of late Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan, announced today she would accept an appointment to replace her husband should he win election to the Senate.

“I decided to do what I think Mel would have wanted me to do, to keep his dream alive,” Mrs. Carnahan said this afternoon. “I pledge to take this common dream to the U.S. Senate. Now the choice is up to the people of Missouri.”

Mrs. Carnahan, whose husband died in a plane crash on Oct. 16, added that she intended to uphold his values and political ideology.

“While we grieve, this campaign was never about one person,” Mrs. Carnahan said, during a press conference at the family farm outside of Rolla. Her husband’s Senate bid, she emphasized, was about “giving voice to everyday working families in Missouri.”

Mel Carnahan, the two-term Democratic governor of Missouri, was killed en route to a campaign stop, along with the Carnahans’ eldest son, Roger, and Chris Sifford, a campaign aide.

Gov. Carnahan had been running neck-and-neck in a hotly contested race against the Republican incumbent, Sen. John Ashcroft, a longtime political rival.

Under Missouri election rules, Carnahan’s name has remained on the ballot and he is eligible for election.

Support from New Governor

Last week Missouri’s new governor, Roger Wilson, who had been the lieutenant governor, announced he favored appointing Mrs. Carnahan to fill the position if Carnahan emerged victorious on Nov. 7.

“They were a team,” Wilson said of the Carnahans at a Tuesday press conference. “There is really no other person that has been near all of the critical issues as much as she has.”

Mrs. Carnahan made a similar claim this afternoon, saying she and her husband “worked as partners,” and that she had acted as a de facto staff member “behind the scenes.”

She added that her arrival at this decision “wasn’t something I did lightly or easily. No one urged me to do this.”

If she takes office, Mrs. Carnahan would serve a special two-year term, and a new election would be held in 2002.

Some political observers have suggested that should Carnahan defeat Ashcroft, Republicans will raise questions about the legality of Mrs. Carnahan’s appointment. The federal Constitution states, “No person shall be a Senator … who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.”

But a Democratic source, contacted by ABCNEWS today, claimed the Senate will face an uphill battle to reject the results of a valid election, since Missouri law allows votes cast for a dead person.

Mrs. Carnahan, 66, has never sought public office, but has often campaigned for her husband. She has a degree in business and public administration from George Washington University.

Senate Control Still at Issue

The contest between Carnahan and Ashcroft was not only one of the hardest-fought in the country, but also seen by Democrats as a key to their chances of regaining control of the Senate.

Republicans hold 54 seats in the Senate to 46 for the Democrats, but the GOP has more incumbents defending their offices in close races.

Mrs. Carnahan sparked speculation that she would consider continuing her husband’s campaign when she told the audience at Sifford’s funeral last week, “Don’t let the fire go out.”

According to Marc Farinella, Mel Carnahan’s campaign manager, the Carnahan campaign has cancelled all of its scheduled TV advertising, receiving refunds of more than $1 million. But the campaign is aiming to distribute hundreds of thousands of lapel buttons reading “I’m still with Mel.”

Mrs. Carnahan added this afternoon that she would “not be campaigning in the traditional sense,” but would remind people that “a vote for Mel Carnahan is a way to keep his dream alive.”

Ashcroft, a former two-term governor first elected to the Senate in 1994, ceased campaigning in the immediate aftermath of Carnahan’s death. And, although he has returned to the trail, has had to modify the tone of his campaign.

Although the Missouri Senate race had been characterized by its negative tone, Ashcroft last week declared he would simply “work real hard to talk to people about the issues and the experience I have. I believe the people will respond positively.”

The Democratic push to support Carnahan even after his death may also have an impact on the presidential race. Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush are also running to a virtual tie in Missouri.

A Mason-Dixon poll released Sunday shows Bush leading Gore 45 percent to 44 percent, with Green Party nominee Ralph Nader at 4 percent.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.