Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone dies in plane crash

CNN.com - Senator, family members killed in Minnesota plane crash - Dec. 29, 2002I was living outside of Minnesota for much of Paul Wellstone's two six year terms as U.S. senator.I may well have considerable ignorance on the matter, but my impression is that he was a senator with the all too rare convictions of doing the right thing, rather than doing just what was in the short term best interests of himself or his constituents.As I vaguely understand it, Wellstone was running about 10-15% behind Republican candidate Norm Coleman. He would have had my vote.Moose

After trailing early, he held a slight lead (very end of article.)
In terms of politcal control of the senate, Republicans focused on this race.CNN.com - Wellstone death complicates Senate battle - Oct. 25, 2002

I brought up Paul Wellstone, not just because he was from Minnesota, but because I think he was a truly special figure in contemporary U.S. politics.My memory on the details is hazy, and I havn't researched the matter, but I believe the following is true (or essentially true):In the recent vote of the U.S. Senate, in a resolution to support President Bush's (aka "Shrub") desire for the U.S. to invade Irag, the vote was something like 99 to 1 in support of Bush's desires. Paul Wellstone was the one decenting vote.While many may not feel in line with Wellstone's brand of "flaming" liberalism, I do think that having a figure such as him, in the Senate, is a very good thing.The cite in the previous message indicates that Walter Mondale is being explored as a replacement candidate for the democratic party. I have nothing against, Mondale, but he sure seems to rather be a fossil of the past.Another name being floated is Alan Page. He is an African-American, and a former hall of fame member of the Minnesota Vikings football team. After football, he was (is?) active in Minnesota government. I believe he was state attorney general of Minnesota, and subsequently served as a state supreme court justice.Page is a well known and popular figure in Minnesota. How his politics compare to Wellstone's, I don't know. But Page is a very inteligent person, and I think he could be a viable candidate in this short time period leading up to the elections.Mooseps: Minnesota law does not allow Wellstone to remain on the ballot. Thus, Minnesota does not have the opportunity to elect a deceased candidate, as Misouri did 2 years ago.

Quoting myself:

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In the recent vote of the U.S. Senate, in a resolution to support President Bush's (aka "Shrub") desire for the U.S. to invade Irag, the vote was something like 99 to 1 in support of Bush's desires. Paul Wellstone was the one decenting vote.

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The numbers are badly inaccurate. Actually about 23 senators voted against, of which Paul Wellstone was one. As I now understand it, he was the only one that was up for re-election.If anyone is interested, one line to further information is:
http://wellstone.org
and in particular:
http://wellstone.org/memorial/OtherCoverage.htmlOne from the local (Duluth, MN) paper (http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/4370549.htm):

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Jim Heffernan
Wellstone leaves big shoes to fill

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Paul Wellstone gone? Someone so full of life, of exuberance, of zest, of desire to do good by his fellow man -- gone in an instant on a drizzly day right here in the Northland? Can't be, you think. But it's all too true.

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I knew Wellstone the way a home-state journalist is likely to know a U.S. Senator. Since he was elected to the Senate, we saw him a couple of times a year. He'd come through for a visit with the editorial board, updating us on what was going on in Washington.

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Always upbeat, often passionate about what he believed in, the interviews -- chats, really -- with Wellstone were something we looked forward to. Politics aside, I liked him personally. I admired his resolve to stand up for what he believed in.

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I first met Wellstone in 1982 when he ran for Minnesota state auditor -- and lost. Aching to be a major player in the liberal political traditions of his adopted state, the then political science professor at Carleton College in Northfield ran for a state constitutional office, probably seeing it as a stepping stone for bigger and better things to come.

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The week we interviewed him about the newspaper's endorsement for that job, a story had broken statewide that he'd admitted to someone that he had always had difficulty reading and understanding information when it is presented in charts and graphs. His opponents used it against him: How can we elect a state auditor who doesn't understand charts and graphs?, they implied.

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Never mind that any teacher will tell you that nearly everyone has pockets of what are sometimes called "special learning disabilities," some more serious than others, and that might have been one of his. I have the same problem. Statistical charts and graphs often just blur together for me. I'd rather get my information in sentences and paragraphs.

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So when I spoke with Wellstone, I kidded him about it, admitting we shared that trait. As usual, he jovially responded, shrugging and explaining -- with no shortage of words -- how he'd always had this difficulty and he still thought he'd be a good state auditor.

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I don't think he'd have made much of a state auditor, although he'd have worked at it. The job would have bored him. Wellstone had bigger things churning in that brain -- a passion for helping people who need help and a conviction that government should do what it can to make people's lives better. In short, he was a liberal.

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The word liberal has become a pejorative in some (conservative) circles. Those who disliked what Wellstone stood for know he was, perhaps, the most liberal member of the Senate. Wellstone wore that label proudly, unashamedly.

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On the occasion of another of our editorial board meetings, after he'd been elected to the Senate, the subject of health care came up. Wellstone felt strongly that America's health care system was broken, and of course he was right. It still isn't fixed. In our conversation -- four of us around a table -- he became so impassioned about the subject that he began to tear up.

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The rest of us, all male, became uncomfortable at his emotional display, but I never forgot it. And, reflecting on it, I could see that was what was best about Wellstone. He really feltwhat he believed in. He truly was a "bleeding-heart liberal" in the finest sense of that often cynical description. The world needs bleeding-heart liberals, and Wellstone filled that bill almost better than anyone else in a position to help shape American policy.

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Finally, on another visit with us, I went to the newspaper's lobby to greet him and guide him to our meeting room, and as we walked up the stairs I noticed that his shoes -- loafers -- were shot. I mean shot. Hobos heating bean cans over fires in railroad yards had better shoes. Long cracks across the top, exposing his socks beneath, shabby soles.

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I kidded him about it, saying something like, "A United States senator can't afford decent shoes?"

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Wellstone wasn't a bit abashed. He muttered something about not having time to worry about shoes -- too much to do and too little time to do it in. I later wrote a column about the senator's shabby shoes, but I never heard from him about it. Still too busy.

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We had another editorial board meeting scheduled with Wellstone, this one Friday afternoon, to talk about the newspaper's endorsement in the Senate race this year. An airplane crash intervened. He was dead, along with his wife and daughter and others on the plane.

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As the gray day wore on Friday, and details kept pouring in, for some reason my mind kept going back to those tattered shoes. Who will fill them?

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No one quite like Paul Wellstone, whose unlikely life journey took him to the place where his death could affect the balance of the U.S. Senate at a time when the nation appears to be poised for a war he opposed, and when so many other issues remain unresolved that need a committed liberal voice.

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Life goes on, but for the time being we'd better put it on hold for a truly good man who was more concerned about providing shoes for those who couldn't afford them than what he wore himself.

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Moose

The Google search results page 1 for "Paul Wellstone"
Paul Wellstone - Google SearchA listing of Wellstone's voting record on various issues. This site also appears to be a good source for information (voting records etc.) on other candidates (both currently in office and others).
ForbiddenA couple of the "less rose tinted" pages on Wellstone. Possibly both are fair appraisals of both his successes and his failures:
Page not found – Mother Jones
Page not found - CounterPunch.orgAnother page from that Google search, on Wellstone's having overcome a personal learning disability:
http://www.people.memphis.edu/~cbburr/gold/wellstone.htmMoose