Missouri Senate race focuses on health care issues

Ex-Rep. Jim Talent aspires to be the "health care senator," but Democratic incumbent Jean Carnahan has earned high marks from physicians.

By Amy Snow Landa, AMNews staff. June 17, 2002.

Washington -- One of this year's most hard-fought Senate races is in Missouri, where the leading Republican candidate has indicated he will make health care issues a key part of his campaign.

Jim Talent, a former GOP congressman from St. Louis, unveiled the first policy initiative of his campaign in late May. The subject: improving access to health care.

Talent is proposing to expand medical savings accounts, allow association health plans for small employers and increase funding for community health centers. "I'd like to be Missouri's health care senator," he told an audience of physicians and patients at Children's Hospital in St. Louis.

But he may have a tough time winning over the state's physicians. Talent is facing Democratic incumbent Sen. Jean Carnahan, who has won high marks from the Missouri State Medical Assn. during her short time in office.

There is a lot riding on the Missouri Senate race for both political parties. The state is a key battleground for control of the Senate, where Democrats now hold only a one-seat majority.

The Missouri race is one of only a handful of Senate contests this year that is so close it is considered a toss-up. Both political parties have targeted the race for special attention, and President Bush has visited twice to attend fund-raising events for Talent's campaign.

Carnahan was appointed to the Senate in 2000 to serve two years of a six-year term. She and Talent are running for the remaining four years.

Carnahan's husband, former Gov. Mel Carnahan, ran for the Senate seat in 2000 but died in a plane crash three weeks before the election. He still won more votes than GOP incumbent Sen. John Ashcroft, and Jean Carnahan was subsequently appointed to the seat. [...]