ASHCROFT SIDESTEPS SPECULATION

U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft sidestepped conversations about former Gov. Mel Carnahan's widow, Jean Carnahan, possibly being appointed to the Senate seat if the Republican senator loses his re-election bid.

Ashcroft had been locked in a hotly contested Senate race with Gov. Carnahan prior to an airplane crash that killed him and son Roger on Oct. 16. Officials have said it is legally too late to remove Mel Carnahan's name from the Nov. 7 ballot, setting up the possibility that voters could choose the late governor.

Gov. Roger Wilson said in Jefferson City, Mo., Tuesday that he wants to appoint Jean Carnahan to fill the Senate vacancy should Ashcroft lose the election. But Ashcroft refused comment on the issue later during a campaign stop in Cape Girardeau.

"We have been through rather troubled waters as a state," Ashcroft told members of the board of Project Hope, a faith-mentoring program in Cape Girardeau that works to help people get from welfare to work.

"I can't imagine any more tragic situation than to lose your husband and son at the same time," he said after serving blackberry and apple cobbler to the board in a room off the main employee cafeteria at Southeast Missouri Hospital Tuesday afternoon. "I think the Carnahan family deserves our prayers and best wishes."

Prior to his remarks, Ashcroft visited with Elsie Welch, a cook at the hospital who obtained her job with the help of Project Hope.

Ashcroft donned a hair net and briefly assisted Welch in preparing a meal of chicken and dumplings.

He also spoke to reporters in the hospital kitchen but refused to comment on Wilson's remarks or the possible scenario that Jean Carnahan could end up serving as a U.S. senator until the next general election in November 2002.

He also wouldn't talk about his campaign strategy for the final two weeks and specifically the kind of political ads he would run, but his campaign later issued a statement saying television advertising would resume Tuesday evening. The ads feature Ashcroft saying: "In times of tragedy, we draw strength from our families and the values we share."

He ends by discussing family values but never criticizes Democrats or asks for a vote.