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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SeachRE who wrote (582170)	6/11/2004 12:41:20 PM
From: exdaytrader76	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

cnn.com Republican senator loses to dead rival in Missouri November 8, 2000 (CNN) -- The late Gov. Mel Carnahan collected enough votes to beat out incumbent Republican Sen. John Ashcroft for the U.S. Senate seat from Missouri. The incumbent Ashcroft was left running against a dead man after his opponent, the popular sitting governor, died in a plane crash on October 16. By that time, it was too late to remove Carnahan's name from the ballot. No one had ever posthumously won election to the Senate, though voters on at least three occasions chose deceased candidates for the House. Lt. Gov. Roger Wilson moved up to succeed Carnahan. Wilson said he would appoint Carnahan's widow, Jean, to the Senate seat should the deceased husband get more votes than Ashcroft. Jean Carnahan said Tuesday night: "Abraham Lincoln never saw his nation made whole again. Susan B. Anthony never cast a vote. Martin Luther King Jr. never finished his mountaintop journey. My husband's journey has stopped short too, and for reasons we do not know or understand, the mantle has now fallen upon us. We remain heirs of a legacy." "On this night I pledge to you -- rather let us pledge to each other -- we will never let the flame go out," she told supporters by speaker phone. Ashcroft held the lead in polls until Carnahan's death threw the race into turmoil. On election day, no one could predict how the sympathy factor would play at the polls. Jean Carnahan used ads to make emotional appeals for "the values and beliefs that Mel Carnahan wanted to take to the United States Senate." Ashcroft was supported by two thirds of the voters who in exit polls said the federal budget surplus should be used to cut taxes. A majority of the voters who supported Carnahan said the surplus should go toward the national debt. Republicans have vowed to fight Jean Carnahan's appointment on the grounds that a candidate must be an "inhabitant" of the state, a requirement a dead person can't fullfill. Her appointment must be approved by the Senate. Both candidates were twice elected governor and had nine statewide victories among them. The freshman Senator Ashcroft has a very conservative voting record. He favored term limits, was one of the first in the Senate to have his own web page, and was one of the first to say charges against Clinton might warrant impeachment. gustavus.edu The most interesting race of the night, though, was the Senate race in Missouri between Senator John Ashcroft and the late Mel Carnahan. The race resulted with Carnahan, who died in an October plane crash, winning over the incumbent Ashcroft. Carnahan won by 48,000 votes. Not bad for someone who was buried four weeks before the election. Although the results of the race didn't surprise me, I could not help but wonder how Ashcroft felt about the results. How would it feel to be defeated by a dead guy? What was the message the Missouri voters were sending to him? The results seemed to say "Hey, the majority of us would rather be represented by a dead guy than you." If someone said that to me, I would feel really depressed. Some people I know can be pretty lazy, but most of them can do things better than a dead guy. Ashcroft took his defeat fairly well, though, only shedding a few tears during his press conference. For him, it probably wasn't consoling to know that Carnahan's win was the first of its type in history. Carnahan was the first person ever elected to the United States Senate posthumously. Ashcroft statements didn't hint about his thoughts on future elections, but I doubt he will ever run again. So, how is it that a dead guy was elected senator? Shouldn't there be some law against that? According to the Missouri Constitution, to be a senator one has to be "thirty years of age, and next before the day of his election shall have been a qualified voter of the state for three years and a resident of the district which he is chosen to represent for one year." Well, Carnahan was 66 years old, so he met the first criteria. However, the senator has to be a resident of the district, and that, in this particular case, is open to interpretation. I am sure some Gusties would rather have a dead guy become President of the United States than the major candidates currently fighting it out in Florida courts. A dead guy wouldn't mispronounce words, use fuzzy math, or ask for additional time in a debate. He also would not get into trouble with any interns. Instead, he'd just keep quiet, which in some people's views is an attribute that all politicians should have. Maybe there is some advantage in electing a dead guy to public office after all!