Politics

Ashcroft Hearing Tests Sen. Carnahan

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 16, 2001 / 7:26 AM EST / CBS

Sen. Jean Carnahan's role in the confirmation battle over attorney general nominee John Ashcroft has implications for both their futures.

Her late husband, Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan, died Oct. 16 in a plane crash while campaigning against Ashcroft for the U.S. Senate seat. Missouri voters chose Carnahan, whose name remained on the ballot, and his widow replaced him for a two-year term.

Now, one of Mrs. Carnahan's first major decisions in office will come on Ashcroft's nomination to head the Justice Department in President-elect Bush's Cabinet. Republicans will control the 50-50 Senate by one vote, once Bush and Vice President-elect Dick Cheney are inaugurated on Saturday.

Still, Democrats are crucial to the outcome. A close vote on the nomination will warn Mr. Bush against attempting to place a conservative on the U.S. Supreme Court. Thus Republicans are hoping for a strong, bipartisan show of support, said an Ashcroft ally, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

This is where Mrs. Carnahan comes in.

"If she votes for him, certainly that will influence some Democrats," said James Thurber, a political scientist at American University.

The senators from a nominee's home state have strong sway over their colleagues, as in the defeat of the federal court nomination of Ronnie White, the Missouri Supreme Court judge expected to testify this week against Ashcroft.

That Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., joined Ashcroft in opposing White was the determining factor for several Republican senators who voted against his nomination.

Mrs. Carnahan has said she will not make up her mind until after the hearings, which began Tuesday and are expected run through Thursdsay.

"I want Sen. Ashcroft to have the benefit of a full and fair hearing," she told NBC last week. "A lot of people have concerns, and that's why this process, the confirmation process, is so important because it gives him a chance to address those, and we should do that."

At Tuesday's opening hearing, Mrs. Carnahan introduced Ashcroft, a courtesy traditionally extended by same-state senators.

"I urge you to show him fairness, but not favoritism," she said in her introduction, calling Ashcroft "my fellow Missourian."

"I ask you to look beyond any history of friendship or disputes, to look beyond the bonds or divisions of party, and to look beyond the urging of interest groups," she told the committee. "Instead, let us base our decision on the facts as they are determined by a full and fair hearing."

Ashcroft's allies said Mrs. Carnahan's decision to introduce the nominee at his request, sends a favorable sign to other Democrats, but Mrs. Carnahan's staff said that wasn't the intent.

In addition, it should be noted that Bond, Missouri's senior senator, gave a warm welcome praising White at the Missouri judge's confirmation hearing, then voted against White's nomination on the Senate floor.

News that Mrs. Carnhan would make an introduction triggered yet another flare-up between the Carnahan and Ashcroft camps last week, though the fighting at this point is being done by surrogates who are one step removed from the Missourians' campaigns or staffs.

An Ashcroft ally, Republican National Committee political director David Israelite, insisted the development sent a positive sign to Democrats, adding that "she probably regrets the incident with the opposition research files."

A Carnahan backer, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee political director Jim Jordan, fired back that, "Ashcroft's handlers are blatantly and disingenuously mischaracterizing an innocent gesture of senatorial courtesy for their own political reasons."

The first flare-up came over the files, with Israelite and other Republicans angry that Ashcroft's foes have access to boxes of opposition research done by the late governor's campaign.

The files of news clippings, speeches and votes are being shared by Carnahan's campaign manager, political consultant Marc Farinella, who is using the Washington offices of a liberal advocacy group to share the information with anyone who wants it.

Mrs. Carnahan "should ask that it stop immediately and ask her campaign staff to show more class," said Israelite, who called the loan "troubling, given the class and dignity that was shown by Sen. Ashcroft in conceding the election." The state GOP held a news conference, and Republican U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson weighed in, to echo the sentiment.

Ashcroft was widely praised for conceding the day after the election, despite legal concerns Republicans raised over a deceased man's candidacy and over voting irregularities in St. Louis.

Mrs. Carnahan's top aide, Roy Temple, said she should not be dragged into the nomination fight and called the file dispute a campaign maneuver.

"Those tactics have no place in a process as sobering as the one in which we are currently engaged," Temple said.

In last week's interview, Mrs. Carnahan remarked, "I haven't been in Washington but just a couple of weeks; I've cast no votes and already the talk shows are beginning to be critical of me because a former campaign personnel person has some old newspapers and speeches that he made public.

"You know, this is something he did as an individual," she added.