As a long time Wellstone supporter and fellow campaign worker on the 1988 Jesse Jackson campaign in Minnesota, I can say the progressive community here and nationally has been devastated by this loss.

I attended the prayer vigil at the Capitol this evening. It opened with a song by Larry Long written for Paul and Sheila a while back. It was a very spiritual ceremony, beginning with two women rabbis from the local Jewish community (the Wellstones are Jewish) offering condolences and prayers, and went on to include representatives of many denominations from across the Twin Cities. Somewhere in the middle we sang Amazing Grace, which felt very good. There were attempts to rouse the crowd campaign style, but not much of it worked. People are so shocked, and very, very down.

The vigil ended with several songs from a local Native drum group, and then the most moving part of the vigil for me was the entire crowd singing "We Shall Overcome" (a song I usually find too sentimental to be heart felt and genuine) very, very softly. It was incredibly moving. There was a cold drizzle on and off, and as darkness descended, the Capitol lights came on, as a backdrop to all the candles in the darkness on the Capitol steps. The Green bus was parked in the middle of the crowd, and it had been made a sort of makeshift altar, with many candles burning on the hood, flowers, mementos, etc. Campaign workers moved through the crowd handing out Wellstone campaign buttons. It felt very strange to take it and put it on, but we all did--even though many of us already were sporting the buttons anyway.

Some details likely not being widely reported--Paul and Sheila's 27 year old daughter Marcia was also on the plane. She is a high school teacher at White Bear Lake High School (suburban Twin Cities public high school) and is survived by her husband and four children. She had taken leave of absence this fall to campaign for her dad. One of the campaign workers on the plane was a very young 22 years old--his first campaign, and of course, it was a great honor for him to be able to ride on the plane with the Senator and his wife and daughter.

The Wellstones were scheduled after the funeral (they were on their way to the funeral of the father of a family friend who is a state politician from the Iron Range) to go on to a debate in Duluth tonight.

Here, we are all talking about the terrible loss to the progressive community also with Sheila's death. She had become a tireless campaigner on domestic violence, and both she and Paul were probably some of the most powerful advocates on the scene today on those issues.

Funeral plans for the Wellstones have not yet been made, but it is anticipated that the funeral will be Sunday. The bodies have yet to be recovered, so we aren't really sure what plans can be made for any of those families of loved ones killed in the crash right now. The crash site is not terribly far from a paved road, but getting to it through the bog and woods is proving very difficult apparently.

It is all so overwhelming right now, I can't say that anyone is honestly thinking about the campaign anymore. The campaign pulled all the ads off TV, but may play the final ad which was to be used for the final campaign push beginning this week. It is very passionate and upbeat. The campaign website has been shut down, and a memorial/tribute is now there.   Campaign staffers have been very low key and not taking many visitors in the offices. First, they are just walking zombies right now. Second, there would never be room for all the mourners that would try to get in.

We all know decisions will have to be made soon, but no one here is expecting any announcements by the DFL party regarding a replacement until after the Wellstone funeral.

The best story I heard all day that really does speak volumes about Wellstone was the story by his Green Party opponent in the Senate race. He said he & the Green contingency were marching in the Juneteenth parade in North Minneapolis last summer, when they marched past the Wellstones standing along the route. Paul was loudly and enthusiastically cheering them on, and came running out to hug everyone and shake hands.

It isn't widely known nationally, but the Green Party and Wellstone's supporters have had some serious falling out over the past year over the election, due to Wellstone's vote in support of the US Patriot Act. Many progressives here were devastated by his vote, and considered it a profound betrayal of his progressive values in the clinch. However, despite that falling out, many Greens planned on voting for Wellstone, against their party candidate, because of the balance of power in the Senate. Winona La Duke, our native daughter who ran on Nader's ticket in 2000 as his VP, had written a letter to the Green convention, asking the party to endorse Wellstone for this election. They didn't, choosing rather to endorse New Age Indian candidate Ed McGaa, whom no one could support. McGaa was defeated in the September primary by the current Green Party Senate candidate, Ray Tricomo. But all the parties have suspended their campaigning for national offices and the governor race for the weekend.

It still doesn't seem possible that the Wellstones are gone. Here, we don't think just in terms of Senator Paul Wellstone. It was always Senator Paul and Sheila Wellstone. The couple were inseparable, and the loss to this very, very close knit family is so inconceivable. There is no consoling us tonight in Minnesota I'm afraid.

Please keep them all in your prayers, and help us honor their legacy. Head on out to the anti-war protests tomorrow near you. We'll see you there.