President Clinton has made strong comments complaining the vote was racial. Ashcroft said he was opposed to White because he believes White is not in favor of administering the death penalty. The death penalty is expected to be an issue in Ashcroft's bid to win re-election in the face of a challenge from Gov. Mel Carnahan. Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. The comments at issue were published in the October 1998 edition of Southern Partisan, a South Carolina magazine.
Critics say such observations implied support.
Ashcroft spokesman Steve Hilton denied that claim Monday. Abraham Lincoln, Ashcroft's favorite politician, agreed with that, Hilton said. Those joining Hickey at the news conference included representatives with Machinists District 837 and the A. Philip Randolph Institute, a group of black labor activists. To discount the racism accusations, Republicans forwarded a copy of a 1991 letter from the Mound City Bar Association, a black lawyers group, that praised Ashcroft's decision as Missouri governor to appoint a black woman to a state judgeship. Hilton declined comment on the petition drive.