No, I don't agree katlaughing. Only people who believe politics has some special entitlement to overshadow all other life and death human concerns and endeavors, would seriously think the election is more important than the funerals for those involved in what is a catastrophic loss. Catastrophic, katlaughing. Not to the rest of the country, but to us.

Wellstone was OUR senator, not a blip on the evening news in another state. Three of the people killed in the crash had connections to the University of Minnesota, where the memorial will be held--one of them was not only a DFL party official, but was also head of a large department at the University--one of the most prominent public institutions in our state. Three families and nine children have been left without a mother. Wellstone was the highest elected official in the state. His death alone would have been a huge deal. But this? No, this isn't just another news story of the Campaign 2002. The story in Minnesota is much, much bigger than that.

To most Minnesotans, the upcoming election is no bigger a deal than any other election, no matter how much that pisses political junkies and media pundits off. Alot of people have been deeply offended by this media and political circus, and consider the "in your face" attitudes shown by politicians and the media, justifying their appalling behavior with claims that Minnesotans have to just shut up and take it because this is election is SO much more important than the deaths of these human beings. They believe that the politicians and media have very, very fucked up priorities which are most certainly not in accordance with theirs.

This catastrophe shows just how disconnected politicians and the media are from real people, and how little they understand what is truly important to most of us. And it so is NOT the election.
So to argue that the majority of people should be more concerned with intra-party politicking than with burying the dead in a tragedy like this, is ludicrous. Political junkies and the media that feeds off that trough think so, but most people don't share that Beltway mentality about the importance of politics, elections, or this election in particular.

The inter-party and intra-party fighting in Minnesota is now so intense and ugly, that the governor is saying it is all going to be settled in court, the former Republican governor publicly released a letter he wrote today to his own state Republican party chair, demanding the party cease and desist the campaigning until Wednesday after the memorials and funerals are over, and the Republican party hacks are FURIOUS at Daschle's appearance in front of Wellstone headquarters...people here are TOTALLY DISGUSTED WITH ALL OF THE POLITICIANS AND THE MEDIA!

It isn't about whether Mondale will run or not anymore. Nobody cares now, as we all know that the deals have been made in the back room by the national party hacks, and the voters aren't going to have any say in who gets put on the ballot anyway.

But we do have nearly the entire US Senate coming for tomorrow's memorial. We know that at least one former president (Clinton) will be present, and possibly others. A high ranking administration official, usually either the president or vice president, will attend, as government protocol compels them to do.

I mean, come on. Are you suggesting that the Minnesota Senate campaign can't wait until after the dead are buried, when there is barely any campaign time left anyway? I mean hell, that is just the way it is going to go. Nobody has any control over the timing of this. Resuming the campaign less than 48 hours after the crash isn't going to give one side or the other an advantage. No one will remember anything now except who really pissed them off with their disrespectful, opportunistic behavior. So when the campaigning starts again in earnest, it will be about the negativity and bad feelings anyway. Which will likely drive down voter turnout even more.

There is a reason why protocol and manners exist. It is to avoid just what we are seeing happen between people right now. At the end of the day, all politics is really about is how we treat one another, not who won control of the Senate or the House in 2002.