Dead Heat:
Incumbant US Senator from Missouri, John Aschroft ®, was left running against a dead man after his opponent, Governor Mel Carnahan (D) died in a plane crash 3 weeks before election day. By that time, it was too late to removew Carnahan's name from the ballot.
"Ashcroft hel the lead in polls until Carnahan's death, threw the race into turmoil. On election day, no one could predict how the sympathy factor would play at the polls. The late governors wife, Jean Carnahan, used ads to make emotional appeals to take to the United States Senate."
Her ads worked. Ashcroft lost; Carnahan beat him by 41,000 votes.
