Sen. Jean Carnahan signs an autograph yesterday for
Thomas McDonald of Columbia after a campaign rally at
Russell Boulevard Elementary School.
Posted on 08/16/2002 12:50:36 PM PDT by rface
In a rally at Russell Boulevard Elementary School, Carnahan told cheering partisans that she was following in the footsteps of Harry Truman.
"He connected with the hopes and the hurt of working men and women," she said, referring to the former president’s 1948 whistle-stop train tour. "When he did, he won and he won big, and so will we."
The accuracy of that comparison won’t be determined until Nov. 5, but in one sense Carnahan is clearly tracing a trail blazed by the former president. Vice President Truman had been boosted to the Oval Office after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and his 1948 campaign was an effort to prove that he could earn the presidency in his own right.
Likewise, Carnahan was appointed to the Senate two years ago - filling Truman’s old seat in her first elected office - after her husband, former Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan, was elected posthumously. After years of campaigning at her husband’s side, Carnahan is now trying to win the seat in her own right and finds herself at the forefront of a campaign that has attracted national attention because of the one-vote margin of Democratic control in the Senate.
While some observers have questioned her effectiveness in the Senate, Carnahan is clearly comfortable on the campaign trail. After delivering her stump speech yesterday, the candidate lingered to receive hugs, handshakes and words of encouragement from the partisan crowd and to sign campaign posters, fliers and even a picture of her late husband.
"You don’t know me, but you are my hero," one woman told her.
During her stump speech, Carnahan touched on several issues that have dominated the early stages of her race against Republican Jim Talent, including a prescription drug benefit for Medicare, corporate fraud and the estate tax. "We need to hold the Ken Lays of the world responsible for the hurt they are causing the American people," she said.
Former Missouri Gov. Roger Wilson of Columbia introduced Carnahan, saying that "a lot of people are trying to take advantage of Jean’s newness - I truly do feel sorry for them."
Wilson also took the opportunity to make an indirect comment on the current debate about war with Iraq. Noting that his son is a Marine, Wilson said "It’s extremely important that … a young man like Drew Wilson or anybody else who’s serving in the armed services has every side heard in this entire debate, because we’re at a critical time in our country."
After the rally, Carnahan welcomed newspaper reporters aboard her bus for an interview on the way to another rally in Moberly. Asked about Iraq, the senator said she would be hesitant to support a large-scale invasion by U.S. troops because of the fear that Saddam Hussein could use chemical or biological weapons against them.
"Any sort of frontal invasion of troops, he would still be able to use chemical and biological weapons on any number … I would like to see it done in some other way that would take less of a commitment of troops," she said, adding that "You do have forces within the country. You have the Kurds in the north and the Shiites in the south that could possibly be of some help there."
The four-day campaign trip was scheduled to wrap up last night in St. Louis.
Unfortunately, I doubt that this will happen. Republicans don't do attack ads well. He will also soft peddle the "experience" issue.
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