I'm here in St. Paul, MN, and I've been watching as much coverage I can on the local TV stations, and maybe I can answer a few questions.

Wellstone's name will NOT remain on the ballot. (One problem is that absentee ballots have already been mailed out with his name on them, and it's impossible for replacement ballots to be printed and mailed. It's unclear how those ballots will be counted if they come back with his name checked.)

Governor Jesse Ventura CAN name a person to fill out the remainder of Wellstone's term, which will end in January. He could do that now, but commentators are predicting that he will wait until after the election, and then nominate the winner. The Senate is adjourned until after the election, but it's likely that there WILL be some important business done in November and December.

The DFL* (as Democrats are known in Minnesota) Central Committee will be able to name a new candidate whose name will appear on the ballot in November. Obviously, they have to act quickly. There is much less time remaining than there was when Mel Carnahan died. Whoever wins the election will hold office for a full six years. I don't know how many people sit on the Central Committee, but I think it's rather large.

The big mystery is, who could fill Wellstone's shoes? I was surprised to find the name being mentioned most often is Walter Mondale. Mondale is highly respected in Minnesota, but he seems to have retired from politics.

I think my personal favorite would be Hubert H. "Skip" Humphrey III. (Say, I just sent him an e-mail urging him to run. Anybody want to join me? Click here.) Skip has good credentials as a liberal, and was an outstanding State Attorney General. He lost the governor's race in an upset to Jesse Ventura, mainly because (IMHO) both he and the Republican candidate didn't take Ventura seriously and ignored him. In other words, the Republican and the Democrat both indulged in too much negative campaigning aimed at each other, thus hurting their own standings, and allowing the third party candidate to rise unhindered. Lesson to be learned: Negative campaigning does NOT work well in a three-way race!--which might be a good argument for having more three-way races.

*The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party was formed by the 1944 merger of the Democratic Party and the Farmer-Labor Party, a socialist-leaning party which was once powerful enough to elect a few governors and senators.