Talent formally announces run for Senate

Associated Press WriterST. LOUIS (AP) -- Former Rep. Jim Talent, the west St. Louis County Republican who lost a bid for governor last year, made it official Tuesday: He'll challenge incumbent Democrat Jean Carnahan for her U.S. Senate seat in 2002.

Talent made the announcement at a news conference in downtown St. Louis. He planned to begin a two-month tour of the state beginning Tuesday night in Joplin. Two Republican sources familiar with Talent's plans said he also planned a trip to Washington to meet with potential donors.

Talent's hosts will be Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., and Tennessee Sen. Bill Frist, chairman of the Senate GOP campaign committee, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"All throughout Missouri, people have told me they want a government that stands up for the values and traditions that are at the heart of our daily lives," Talent said. "They want experienced leadership and honest participation in government. They want candidates to focus on the issues that matter to their families."

Talent gave up his congressional seat to run for governor last year, losing by about 21,000 votes to Democrat Bob Holden. Jean Carnahan was appointed after her husband, former Gov. Mel Carnahan, was killed in a plane crash three weeks before the election last November.

Despite his death, Mel Carnahan defeated incumbent Republican John Ashcroft, now U.S. Attorney General.

Mrs. Carnahan, 67, has not officially announced whether she'll run in 2002. However, she has raised more than $2.3 million for the race, according to reports filed in August with the Federal Election Commission.

In the months following his loss to Holden, Talent was considered on the short-list for a post in the Bush Cabinet, possibly as head of the Small Business Administration. Talent was chairman of the House Small Business Committee when he decided to seek the governor's post.

After failing to find a job in Bush's administration, Talent took a teaching position at Washington University in St. Louis, splitting time with a job at the Washington, D.C., law firm Arent Fox.

With the firm, Talent lobbied on behalf of the National Federation of Independent Business. Talent's work focused on association health plans, which would allow small companies to band together to offer health insurance plans like those provided by larger, self-insured companies.

It's an issue he worked on while in the House and campaigned on the idea when running for governor.

Talent has suggested he lost the governor's race partly because of Mel Carnahan's death, which energized Democratic voters -- some wearing buttons saying "I'm Still for Mel" -- to go to the polls in greater numbers.

Still, critics point out, President Bush won Missouri with 50 percent to Al Gore's 47 percent. Political observers have said since August, when Talent announced the formation of his exploratory committee, he will face a stiff challenge.

One, Saint Louis University political scientist Ken Warren, compared the prestige of the Carnahan name in Missouri to that of the Kennedy name in Massachusetts.

But for months, Talent has been the favorite choice of the state GOP to challenge Mrs. Carnahan. Two other top contenders, Republican Reps. Kenny Hulshof and Jo Ann Emerson, said in June they would not run.

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