Word: carnahan
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...Then a few days after the crash, the new governor, Democrat Roger Wilson, suggested a somewhat touchy plan: Why not ask Jean Carnahan, widow of the late governor, to take her husband's place if he should win the election? Mrs. Carnahan initially demurred, and withdrew from public sight to mourn with her family and friends...
...days following the accident, which also killed Carnahan's son Randy and a longtime adviser, national Democratic strategists floundered as they tried to find a way to salvage one of the party's best chances at a U.S. Senate seat. By law, it was too late to replace Carnahan on the November 7 ballot - and it was going to be tough to convince voters to pull a lever for a man who could never take office...
...that seemed to be the way it would stay. Though Jean Carnahan, 66, is extremely well liked in Missouri, she has never publicly expressed any interest in entering the political sphere herself. She's written a few books, but they haven't provided much fodder for the talk-show circuit: One was a guide to holiday entertaining and another delved into the history of the governor's mansion...
...Monday, Mrs. Carnahan announced she would accept Wilson's appointment to the Senate if her husband were to win the seat. "It's what Mel would have wanted me to do," she told a crowd gathered in Rolla, Mo. Is it what she wants to do? Perhaps. Mrs. Carnahan was apparently moved by Cokie Roberts' encouragement, who recounted her own mother's ascent to politics after her father, Louisiana representative Hale Boggs, disappeared in a plane over Alaska. The campaign, Roberts told Carnahan, helped her mother overcome her grief. And it's quite possible that simple self-preservation has been...
...Over at the Ashcroft camp, Monday's announcement put the staff into an almost untenable position. Do they ignore Jean Carnahan, and run a purely pro-Ashcroft campaign? Or do they risk potential backlash and attempt to engage Mrs. Carnahan as a fellow candidate...