Mo. Governor Killed in Plane Crash
S T. L O U I S, Oct. 17, 2000 -- Residents of Missouri are mourning the death of their governor, Mel Carnahan, after he and two others, including his son, were killed Monday night in a plane crash just outside St. Louis.
“Governor Carnahan always believed that public service was a noble calling,” Tony Wyche, the governor’s press secretary, told reporters this morning. “He was the greatest governor this state has ever had and we will miss him dearly.”
The governor, 66, his son Roger — who was known as Randy — and political strategist Chris Sifford, had been flying in rain and fog to a fund-raiser for his Senate campaign.
Carnahan was in a hotly contested race with incumbent Republican Sen. John Ashcroft. The two rivals had been trading increasingly personal barbs in recent weeks, but Ashcroft immediately suspended all campaign activity and advertising out of respect for the governor and his family.
“This is a compound tragedy,” the senator said in an interview with KYTV. “Obviously this is not a time for politics, this is a time for the state to come together.”
Lt. Gov. Roger Wilson will serve out the remainder of Carnahan’s term, until Jan. 8.
“Governor Carnahan was a great man, a respected man who did so many things for so many people,” Wilson said.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators arrived at the crash site this morning and are working to recover the remains of the people on board.
A Call From the President
President Clinton, meeting with Mideast leaders in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, called the governor’s wife, Jean Carnahan, to express condolences.
Presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore also offered words of sympathy for the Carnahan family.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragedy,” the vice president said in statement. “Mel was a good friend … [He] made a real difference and will be deeply missed by Tipper and me and the people of Missouri.”
“It puts everything that goes on in a political campaign into perspective,” Gore’s running mate, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, said on CBS’ Early Show. “I just mourn his loss. He was a fine public servant.”
“Mel was a thoughtful, distinguished man,” added Texas Gov. Bush. “Laura and I have Jean and the entire Carnahan family in our thoughts and prayers.”
Although he had four public campaign events today, Republican vice-presidential candidate Dick Cheney failed to once mention Carnahan’s death in his remarks. He did, however, release a statement late tonight expressing his condolences.
Tonight’s presidential debate between Bush and Gore — the last of three such forums — will go on as planned at Washington University in St. Louis.
“This is a national event,” said Janet Brown, president of the non-partisan Commission on Presidential Debates,“ It seems to us it’s totally in support of Governor Carnahan’s commitment and career in public service.”
Both Bush and Gore cancelled post-debate rallies and temporarily suspended all campaign advertising in the state in light of the tragedy.
Investigation Under Way
According to Carnahan’s travel schedule, the governor was traveling to Parks Bi-State Airport in Illinois across the river from St. Louis. He was to leave from there and head to New Madrid County Memorial Airport to attend a southeast Missouri Democratic minority coalition rally at 8 p.m. CT.
NTSB officials said the governor’s plane had taken off Monday evening at 6:55 p.m. and lost radar contact around 7:30 p.m., when it crashed in a densely wooded area of steep terrain about 25 miles south of St. Louis.
Randy Carnahan was piloting the aircraft. Both he and the governor were licensed pilots.
Carol Carmody, a spokeswoman for the NTSB, said it could take as long as two days to complete that process and perhaps months to determine the cause of the crash.
“This does not happen quickly because we are very thorough,” she said. “We look at everything — we do an exhaustive analysis of all aspects … We will spend the time needed to get to the bottom of it.”
Tom Hunter, who lives near the crash site, told St. Louis television station KMOV he heard the plane flying over.
“I thought, ‘What a crazy person in this kind of weather.’ Next thing, sounded like it was in a very steep dive, the engine was just screaming,” Hunter said.
He heard a loud explosion and the sky turned red. “That was it,” Hunter said. “It was total silence. I told my wife to call 911.”
Political Scene
Carnahan was very popular in Missouri and was completing his second term as governor — term limits would have prevented him from seeking a third.
The governor has campaigned on some of the most popular issues of the ’90s: health care, education and welfare reform — and had a record on these issues. He won the Democratic nomination for the Senate in August, but had spent the better part of two years seeking the seat.
In pure political terms, a Carnahan victory against the popular incumbent, Ashcroft, was considered essential to the Democrats’ chances of regaining control of the U.S. Senate. Democrats believe they now have almost no chance of beating Ashcroft because under Missouri law, Carnahan will remain on the ballot as their candidate, even though he is dead.
If enough people vote for the deceased candidate, however, the governor will appoint a replacement to serve until the next general election. What’s not clear at this point is which governor: the governor taking office in place of Carnahan, or the governor who wins the current election.
Democrat Bob Holden and Republican Jim Talent are currently vying for that job.
In 1976, another Senate challenger in Missouri, state Rep. Jerry Litton, died in a plane crash as he and his family were flying to a victory celebration the night he won the Democratic nomination.
The last governor to die in office was Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles on Dec. 12, 1998. The 68-year-old collapsed while exercising in the governor’s mansion gymnasium. South Dakota Gov. George Mickelson died in 1993 when his plane slammed into a silo in eastern Iowa.
ABCNEWS’ Mark Halperin, Brian Hartman, Kendra Gahagan and The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.