The death of Fox McKeithen thrusts his friend of more than a quarter century into the secretary of state’s office, and Al Ater of Ferriday acknowledges it’s an uncomfortable position to mourn McKeithen’s loss and take over his job.

&uot;This is the most awkward that you can imagine. Who in the world would have thought this?&uot; Ater said Wednesday, a day after McKeithen’s funeral.

And Ater said he refuses, this close to the loss of such a good friend, to speak about whether he will run for the office himself in 2006.

&uot;That’s one year and three months away,&uot; Ater said. &uot;I know people are going to speculate on (my running), and that’s their choice, Š but it’s not appropriate for me to do so right now.&uot;

Ater and McKeithen both were born and raised in northeast Louisiana. They both were elected to the state House of Representatives in 1983. They sat across the aisle from each other on the House floor, and Ater handled legislation pushed by McKeithen when he became secretary of state four years later.

&uot;Fox and I have been friends for 25 years, and I’m proud to have served with him,&uot; Ater said.

Now, since McKeithen had named him first assistant secretary of state, Ater is moving into McKeithen’s job &045; following the constitutional provision to fill the vacancy created with McKeithen’s resignation a day before he died from an infection that developed into pneumonia, complications from a fall that paralyzed him in February. McKeithen, 58, died Saturday.

Ater, 51, isn’t sure about his title, and the corn and cotton farmer doesn’t really care what he’s called, whether it’s secretary of state or acting secretary of state.

He’s quite a bit like McKeithen was: a man with deep roots in the rural community, who talks with a twang and likes to tell a good story.

And Ater said he wants to maintain the same type of office McKeithen ran, with few sweeping changes, saying there’s not much he wants to change because McKeithen listened to his advice about changes when he suggested things.

&uot;I feel an extra responsibility to make sure the office he loved and cared very deeply about is run and run properly,&uot; Ater said.

And there’s much to do, Ater said &045; one of the most foremost tasks being to accept bids, by Aug. 1, for $50 million worth of new voting machines required under the Help America Vote Act.

The secretary of state manages the state’s elections and oversees the archiving of state records, registration of business names and trademarks, incorporation of new business and operation of a dozen museums including the Old State Capitol.

Rep. Charlie Lancaster, R-Metairie, who is chairman of the House committee that deals with elections laws and, therefore, regularly interacts with the secretary of state’s office, said Ater works well across party lines and with differing political philosophies.

&uot;We’re going to all miss Fox. Nobody could duplicate him. But I think from an ability standpoint, Al’s been doing a lot of the heavy lifting. He’s very capable,&uot; Lancaster said. &uot;I think we’ve very fortunate to have him.&uot;

Ater still runs a farm in northeast Louisiana and lives in Ferriday, a tiny town near the Mississippi River in Concordia Parish, a fairly lengthy commute to his office in Baton Rouge about 100 miles away.

He left the House after two terms, choosing not to run for re-election because he said he had remarried and had two children during that time and wanted to spend more time with his family.

&uot;I’m one of the strange ones. I wasn’t indicted, I wasn’t under investigation, I wasn’t in danger of getting beat. I just thought there was something more important to do,&uot; Ater said.

He took the first assistant’s job at the secretary of state’s office in 2001 and worked in great detail on the mechanics of merging the separate elections department into the secretary of state’s office in January 2004.

Shortly thereafter, Ater moved to the insurance department to serve as chief deputy commissioner for his longtime friend, Insurance Commissioner Robert Wooley. But when McKeithen fell at his home and was paralyzed, Ater returned to the secretary of state’s office at McKeithen’s request and resumed his old job.

Ater’s move to the secretary of state’s post shifts the job to Democratic hands. Though McKeithen was a Republican, he didn’t follow the constraints of a political party, hiring across party lines and counting among his closest friends Democratic politicians and officials.

The Louisiana Constitution provides that an election for the secretary of state’s position should coincide with the next regularly scheduled congressional election in the fall of 2006.

Working in the office for more than a year before the election would seem to give Ater a boost to retaining the job if he intended to run for it, but Ater wouldn’t comment on his future, saying it was inappropriate a day after McKeithen’s funeral.

State GOP Party chairman Roger Villere didn’t return calls for comment. Lancaster, a member of the Republican State Central Committee that governs the state Republican Party, wouldn’t speculate on whether Ater would have an advantage _ if he chose to run _ that could damage attempts to keep the secretary of state’s office in Republican hands.

&uot;We know that we’ve got a secretary of state who’s capable and who can handle the job, and we’ll worry about that (elections) a year and a half from now,&uot; Lancaster said.