By By Terry R. Cassreino / assistant managing editor
October 17,2003
While state Sen. Barbara Blackmon eagerly talked about education Thursday, she refused to discuss her challenge that Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck sign an affidavit saying she never had an abortion.
Asked if she had evidence Tuck had an abortion, Blackmon said: "I have spoken to that issue and we will move to another question. If you will go back and read the affidavit, we will stick by the affidavit."
Blackmon proposed late last month that she and Tuck take an oath that they had not had an abortion. Blackmon, the mother of two sons, said she personally has never had an abortion.
Tuck immediately called Blackmon's challenge "one of the sleaziest political attacks in Mississippi history." Tuck spokesman Michael Goode said his candidate nevertheless plans to sign an affidavit.
When Blackmon was pressed at a news conference in Meridian to discuss her abortion challenge, she tried to shift the subject to the lack of debates between her and Tuck.
When asked again, Blackmon walked away from the podium and started to leave the Dulaney Room at Meridian Community College without answering the questions.