Just a note about the Ashcroft/Carnahan race.
On Oct 13, 2000, the race was polled as a dead heat, with each polling at 40%. It was a very "negative" race on both sides.
Carnahan certainly grabbed the headlines from Ashcroft on Oct 16, 2000 by dying in the plane crash while campaigning.
The nation was shocked when Carnahan, his son, and a campaign aide were killed in a plane crash Oct. 16. Acting Missouri Governor Roger Wilson said he would appoint Jean Carnahan to the seat if her late husband wins. While Mrs. Carnahan did not actively campaign for the seat, she said that she would accept the appointment and filmed a campaign commercial.
They went right to the widow as the replacement candidate. The people of Missouri knew they were voting for the widow.
And he effectively got a second opponent when Carnahan's widow, Jean, said Monday she would accept appointment to the Senate if her late husband wins Nov. 7.
So Ashcroft must find a way to politick delicately against an esteemed widow insulated from the usual volleys of campaigning.
``I'm campaigning for the United States Senate,'' Ashcroft said Monday during an appearance in Kansas City. ``I don't want to quibble about that, but I'm not campaigning against anyone.'' In the weeks since the 66-year-old Carnahan's death Oct. 16 in a plane crash, Ashcroft has had a third opponent, as well, says one analyst.
``Ashcroft's third opponent is the news media, which is providing so much coverage to the Mel Carnahan-Jean Carnahan story,'' said Rick Hardy, a political scientist at the University of Missouri at Columbia. ``John Ashcroft is in a political straitjacket.''
Mel Carnahan's name remains before voters because he died after a deadline for revising Missouri's ballot...
....Ashcroft suspended all campaigning for eight days after Carnahan's death and conceded Monday that the timeout hurt his campaign with one week remaining before votes are cast.
Polls bear that out. For months, Carnahan and Ashcroft had been in a statistical tie. But Carnahan in death has gained a slight edge when poll participants are told of the plan to appoint his widow.
Ashcroft did indeed get beat by a "dead guy". But that flip "Jay Leno" comment really doesn't tell the story. Ashcroft might well have lost the race had Carnahan lived. He really had no chance when Carnahan made the ultimate sacrifice. The media Carnahan veneration and the sympathy for the widow beat Ashcroft, not Mel Carnahan the politician.
