Posted on 08/31/2002 7:07:12 AM PDT by TroutStalker
WASHINGTON - In some Missouri political circles, the name Carnahan is linked strongly with gun control. But there was Sen. Jean Carnahan on Friday, loading up her 20-gauge Browning Citori shotgun and trying to blast a few clay pigeons out of the sky. The occasion was the annual skeet shoot and fish fry on a farm in Braggadocio in Missouri's Bootheel. It wasn't supposed to be a campaign event, just a shoulder-thumping good time. But in an election year, and in the very week when a new poll showed the Democrat's support among men weakening, politics could be smelled along with the gunpowder. Carnahan's Republican opponents have suggested that her appearance at the skeet shoot was a stunt designed to cloud her strong advocacy for gun control. "I don't think anybody's buying what they're selling down there," said Scott Baker, a spokesman for the Missouri Republican Party. "I think obviously the polls show that she has a terrible problem with credibility among male voters and she's trying to get a little back," said Lloyd Smith, campaign manager for her opponent, former Congressman Jim Talent, a Republican. "I hope she has a good time." Guns often vex Democratic candidates, especially in rural areas. "Get the gun issue off the table," Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, a possible 2004 presidential candidate, has said. "It cost Al Gore three states -- and the presidency." A newspaper editorial this week called her a "veritable Annie Oakley," and Michael Kelley, executive director for Missouri Democrats, was quoted throwing a challenge at Talent. "How often has he shot a gun?" Kelley asked. Smith has said his candidate has hunted, but prefers fishing. Ed Kilgore, policy director for the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, said he thought Carnahan handled it correctly. The skeet shoot, he said, "was a vivid way show that just because you favor some gun control, that doesn't mean you don't enjoy your right to gun ownership." Carnahan said she has been shooting guns since she took a rifle course in college and won a marksmanship badge. She got interested in skeet shooting several years ago after attending a National Governors' Convention with her late husband, former Gov. Mel Carnahan. "By luck," the senator said of that initial attempt against clay pigeons, she out-shot a member of her husband's security staff. "I am not opposed to sportsmen using guns," Carnahan said. "My family always owned guns. My son, Randy, who was in the plane cash, often would go out and get deer every season and turkey, all on our land. So I don't feel this is something unusual in my life." But Carnahan is better known for her support for various measures to control guns, not fire them. She supports background checks for gun buyers, trigger locks and the ban on assault weapons. The Million Mom March has endorsed her. Her husband was a strong gun control supporter. Her daughter, Robin Carnahan, a lawyer, was a key player in the defeat in 1999 of Proposition B, a ballot question pushed by the National Rifle Association that would have allowed Missourians to carry concealed weapons. That year at a gun control rally in St. Louis, Jean Carnahan said: "We are not a bunch of gun-hating zealots who want to take guns away from responsible, law-abiding sportsmen. We are women tired of children killing children." The NRA has supported Talent and he favors the carrying of concealed weapons, as long as people take training first. He opposed the assault weapons ban as a member of Congress, supports instant background checks at the time that a gun is sold and prison time for anyone using a gun during a crime. An NRA interview with Talent appeared within the last few days on the gun lobby's Internet site, in which the GOP candidate said: "Taking firearms from honest citizens will increase violent crime and empower criminals. Through strict enforcement of our existing gun laws and harsh sentencing standards for those who perpetrate violent crime, I believe that we can reduce crime while protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens." Talent also was in the Bootheel Friday, attending a campaign roundtable at a tractor shed at the University of Missouri-Columbia's Delta Research Center in Portageville, a visit to the Mississippi River port at Caruthersville and a session with cotton farmers at Senath. Carnahan spokesman Dan Leistikow downplayed the political overtones of the skeet shoot. He said she was invited last year, but couldn't attend because of weather. He said it was on her schedule this year long before a Zogby poll for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch revealed this week that her race against Talent had tightened considerably. The poll showed the contest dead even, with Carnahan keeping her edge among women, 64 percent of whom view her favorably. Nearly half of the male respondents, however, had an unfavorable opinion of her. In April, only a third viewed her negatively. Kelley said the Carnahan campaign's internal polls don't show the kind of precipitous drop in support among men. "Obviously we don't ever like to see polls like that, but I don't think this is surprising," he said. "This was going to be a close race. People knew that two years ago." Ken Warren, who teaches politics at St. Louis University, said, "She is getting hurt, particularly among male voters, by her position and family history as a strong proponent of gun control." He called the skeet shoot a "symbolic gesture" that "will probably help somewhat. I don't see how it can hurt." The Associated Press contributed to this report. To reach David Goldstein, Washington correspondent, call (202) 383-6105, or send email to dgoldstein@krwashington.com. |
Ya think?
It is not about sportsmen and firearms with sporting purposes. Will enough people be fooled by this publicity show to make a difference........
She taught her daughter well.
I don't want her teaching ANYBODY in congress the same thing.
Gag me with a spoon! The woman is still running on the sympathy vote.
I heard she said the same about test scores in St. Louis and Kansas City schools! fsf
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