UPDATE: Glenn Burleigh, the head organizer of the St. Louis ACORN group, said the GOP is off base on its criticism of Carnahan over her communication with his group: “If she had not been in communications with a group involved in a major voters’ rights case, then she would have been in dereliction of duty as Secretary of State,” Burleigh says. “If the GOP would prefer that she just not do her job, that’s one thing, but she was performing mandated duties of her office, which I’m sure most Missouri voters would appreciate.”

JEFFERSON CITY — Senate candidate Robin Carnahan told law students at the University of Missouri last night that Missouri should consider allowing civil unions as an alternative to gay marriage.

According to The Maneater, a student newspaper on the MU campus, Carnahan, a Democrat who is Missouri’s Secretary of State, said this in response to a question about gay marriage:

“I believe marriage should be between a man and a woman, but civil unions are something we should consider,” Carnahan said.

The issue should be handled by the states, Carnahan said. In 2004, Missourians voted for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in the state. Carnahan didn’t support the amendment. In a news release earlier this week, one of Carnahan’s Republican opponents, Congressman Roy Blunt, alleged that Carnahan would seek to overturn the “Defense of Marriage Act”, a federal law that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman.

At the law school event, Carnahan continued to dance around a specific position regarding the health care legislation under debate in Congress, choosing instead to outline broad principles she would support. Asked about the ‘public option’ Carnahan said this:

“That phrase is a distraction because I don’t care what we call it, what we know we have to have is greater access, more affordability and security in health care,” she said.

Carnahan also responded to recent criticism by the Missouri GOP trying to tie her to ACORN, the group that advocates for low-income citizens that has been under fire for alleged corruption.

Carnahan said she has no ties to ACORN. Her spokesman has previously said that she communicates with that group just as she does other other groups in her job as the Secretary of State. The Missouri GOP alleges that the e-mails between her top staff and ACORN indicate the relationship is “cozy.”

The GOP sent out a video this morning of Carnahan’s remarks that was taken by Arthur Nunn, a Columbia resident. While the GOP did have a tracker at the event, the video was not shot by someone associated with the party, said GOP spokesman Jonathan Prouty.