Carter left off list for funeral

[ChristinaB]

Carter left off list for funeral

When President Bush leaves today for the funeral of Pope John Paul II in Rome, former President Carter won't be with him. But whether that's because Carter didn't want to go or because Bush didn't want him was a matter of dispute Tuesday.

Former Presidents Bush and Clinton will accompany Bush as part of the official U.S. delegation to Friday's funeral. First lady Laura Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will join them.

But shortly after the White House announced its five-member delegation Tuesday, the Carter Center issued a statement widely interpreted as suggesting that Carter had personally requested to be part of the group only to be turned down by a White House that had spurned him before.

"After issuing a public statement of condolences last week, President Carter expressed to the White House a desire to attend the pope's funeral," Carter Center spokesman Jon Moore said in the statement.

However, the statement said, Carter "was quite willing to withdraw his request when he was subsequently informed that the official delegation would be limited to just five people and there were also others who were eager to attend."

It added that Carter and wife Rosalynn were "very pleased with the official delegation," but that did nothing to dampen speculation the Georgia Democrat had been excluded. "Bush Passed Over Carter in Pope Funeral Pick," said a banner headline on the Drudge Report, a widely read Internet news site.

Deanna Congileo, another Carter spokeswoman, declined to clarify the statement late Tuesday.

The White House not only refuted claims that Carter had been rejected but insisted that the former president had been specifically asked to join the delegation.

"We would have been more than happy to have him," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said. "We reached out to former President Bush, former President Clinton and former President Carter to be part of the delegation. It was his decision to make."

Former President Gerald Ford, 91, has been in fragile health and was advised by doctors to limit his travel.

Carter's inclusion in the delegation would have carried symbolic significance because Carter was president when Pope John Paul II first took control of the Catholic Church. Carter was also the only president to host the pope in Washington.