And here is more cheerful news for cynics from the St. Paul Pioneer Press today:

Posted on Tue, Oct. 29, 2002   

Tragedy quick to go on sale
BY JIM MCCARTNEY
Pioneer Press

It was only a matter of minutes after Sen. Paul Wellstone's plane crash became national news Friday that Wellstone memorabilia started popping up for sale on eBay, the Internet auction site.

Wellstone road signs (bidding started at $10), trading cards (yes, a company puts out U.S. senator trading cards), books, bar coasters and photos have hit the site. Even a tape of a 1991 Twin Cities radio show about the end of the Gulf War that talks about Wellstone.

A "rare" Wellstone trading card would be a "wonderful way to commemorate the senator," writes one eBay seller, who put the item up for sale at 2:24 p.m. Friday.

"Obviously," most of the 20 plus sellers of Wellstone memorabilia are "trying to cash in on a tragedy," said Victor Mongeau of Legacy Historical Antiques, an Albuquerque, N.M.-based specialist in political memorabilia.

"I'm surprised that they would do this so soon,'' said Rick Frese, a government professor at Bentley College in Waltham, Mass., and avid collector of political memorabilia.

"I can see some loyal supporters wanting to save their posters or lawn signs. But I'm a little surprised that people would try to exploit this 'instant market.' "

EBay officials are not surprised. There was a spike in memorabilia items on the site following the deaths of baseball great Joe DiMaggio, cartoonist Charles Schulz, and John F. Kennedy Jr., said Kevin Pursglove, a spokesman for San Jose, Calif.-based eBay. When racecar driver Dale Earnhardt was killed at the 2001 Daytona 500, items for sale related to Earnhardt went from less than 900 to 3,700 within hours, and now hovers above 14,000.

One seller on eBay claimed to be a little conflicted about selling his signed copy ("To Buck, My very best to you, Paul") of Wellstone's book, "The Conscience of a Liberal.'' Still, he's drawing the highest bids among the memorabilia — $60 on Monday afternoon with three days to go in the bidding.

Speculators who buy the items as investments rather than keepsakes will likely be disappointed, since interest in Wellstone memorabilia will likely be restricted to Minnesota, Mongeau said.

"Now, an assassination would have been one thing," he said. "But a plane crash — that could be considered an act of God."

Ironically, Mongeau says, the biggest beneficiaries of the tragic event may be those who have Walter Mondale political memorabilia.

"If Mondale replaces Wellstone in the race, it will thrust him into the national spotlight again," he said.

In fact, there were some 74 Mondale items for sale on eBay Monday afternoon — 43 of which were listed after the plane crash Friday. There were no items listed on eBay for the Republican challenger for Wellstone's U.S. Senate seat, Norm Coleman.