The widow of the Missouri Democratic Governor, Mel Carnahan, announced yesterday she would accept the new governor's offer of appointment to the Senate if her husband, who died in a plane crash two weeks ago but whose name is still on the ballot paper, is elected.
Ms Jean Carnahan told a press conference at her family home in Rolla, Missouri, that she had "decided to do what I think Mel would want all of us to do, to keep the cause alive."
Mel Carnahan, a two-term Democratic Governor, died while campaigning for the US Senate seat held by Republican Mr John Ashcroft that was regarded as neck and neck. Since his death, however, polls have shown Carnahan leading by between 5 and 11 percentage points.
