Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash (2002)

Subject: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Alice
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 02:13 PM

Senator Wellstone of Minnesota, just killed in crash of a private plane. He has been one of the voices speaking up for reason in the debate about Iraq. A Democratic, he was in a campaign for re-election in Minnesota.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: 53
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 02:18 PM

State senator or a U.S. senator?

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Peg
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 02:18 PM

he was just up for re-election to a third term, too. Very sad. He and his family were en route to a funeral apparently.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Ebbie
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 02:19 PM

U.S.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Lepus Rex
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 02:20 PM

US, Bob/Glenda.

This is awful. His wife, Sheila, daughter, Marcia, and 5 others were also killed...

---Lepus Rex

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 02:20 PM

One less voice of reason in that mad house.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Nerd
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 02:23 PM

Wellstone was a great and principled man, and will be missed by people far beyond his constituency.

I hate to get political at a time like this, but what happens now? Doesn't Jesse Ventura appoint a replacement? If so, Senate committees will likely change hands forthwith...

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Alice
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 02:29 PM

I just contributed to his campaign to keep him in the Senate. This is a shock.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Alice
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 02:37 PM

quote from Fox news online "If Wellstone wins his election posthumously, a special election could be called or Sen. Jesse Ventura, an independent, could appoint a Democrat in Wellstone's place."

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Bill D
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 02:40 PM

Oh...wow...such a loss!...He was a good, sane man!

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Genie
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 02:42 PM

Very sad news, indeed.

Second time in 2 years this sort of thing has happened re someone running for the US Senate. Unfortunately, the grieving for the people killed tends to be overshadowed somewhat by the unavoidable discussion of political repercussions.

I heard on the news that both of the Wellstones' daughters were killed, too.

Genie

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Alice
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 03:06 PM

Two sons not on the plane survive from the family. As one who has experienced this, having several family members die all at once in an accident is an overwhelming shock for a family.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 03:18 PM

This is so unbelieveably sad, not just for his family, but for us all. I know it seems crass to be thinking about the campaign, but I hope with everything in my heart, that the voters of MN keep his spirit alive with a win on the ballot and a Dem. named to his post.

Here's the latest from AP, as of about 15 minutes ago:

EVELETH, Minn. –– Sen. Paul Wellstone, an outspoken liberal Democrat locked in a re-election battle considered key to control of the Senate, was killed in a plane crash Friday in northern Minnesota along with his wife, daughter and five others.

The twin-engine private plane went down in freezing rain and light snow near the Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport, about 175 miles north of Minneapolis. The cause of the crash was under investigation.

Wellstone, a 58-year-old former college professor and one of the foremost liberals on Capitol Hill, was on his way to the funeral of the father of a state lawmaker.

"It's just terrible. Say a prayer," said Lisa Pattni, an aide who was at the crash site.

All eight people aboard the 11-seat King Air A-100 were killed, said Greg Martin, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. Campaign officials confirmed the victims also included Wellstone's wife, Sheila, and daughter, Marcia; three campaign staff members; and two pilots.

Wellstone's death just 11 days before Election Day threw the battle for the Senate into uncharted territory. Before Friday, Democrats held control by a single seat.

State officials were researching whether Wellstone's name would remain on the ballot, or whether independent Gov. Jesse Ventura or state Democrats could appoint a replacement.

State law allows for the governor to fill a vacant Senate seat, but allows for the party to appoint a replacement in the event of a death of a nominee. State Democratic Party spokesman Bill Amberg said he was confident the party would be allowed to offer a replacement.

Two years ago, Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan was killed in a plane crash three weeks before Election Day while running for the Senate. Carnahan's name remained on the ballot and he beat Republican Sen. John Ashcroft. Carnahan's widow, Jean, was appointed to serve in his place and is now seeking election to a full term against Republican Jim Talent.

Wellstone was up against Republican Norm Coleman, a former mayor of St. Paul and President Bush's choice to challenge the two-term incumbent. A Coleman spokesman, Ben Whitney, said: "Our prayers are with the Wellstone family. That's all I'm going to say."

Before running for office, Wellstone was a professor and community organizer who fused the two passions in a course he taught at Carleton College in Northfield called "Social Movements and Grassroots Organizing."

He stunned the political establishment by knocking off Republican Sen. Rudy Boschwitz with a longshot bid for office in 1990. Afterward, left-leaning Mother Jones magazine called him "the first 1960s radical elected to the U.S. Senate."

Wellstone had pledged to stay for no more than two terms, but last year, he announced he would be running again. In February, he announced he had been diagnosed with a mild form of multiple sclerosis but he said it wouldn't stop his campaign.

"For me, no stress would be stress," Wellstone said at the time. "The stress of this campaign is what I want to do, to be perfectly honest. And the stress of being a senator is what I want to do."

State Democratic Party chairman Mike Erlandson said Wellstone for years had been "the heartbeat" of the party.

"He took pride every day in fighting on behalf of the people of Minnesota," he said.

Liberal to the end, Wellstone cast his vote earlier this month against legislation to authorize the use of force in Iraq – the only Democrat in a competitive race to go against Bush on the issue.

Wellstone also had two sons, David and Mark, and six grandchildren.

The King Air turboprop was made by Raytheon Corp. with Pratt & Whitney engines, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The owner was listed as Beech Transportation Inc. of Eden Prairie, Minn., and the plane had been leased by Wellstone.

–––

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Mudlark
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 03:27 PM

What an incredible tragedy: for the family, for the state and for the union.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST,Arne Langsetmo
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 03:47 PM

A horrible shock. Wellstone was a man of principle and courage.

First Carnahan, and now this. Not that I'm paranoid, but...

"Paranoia strikes deep Into your life it will creep It starts when you're always afraid You step out of line, the man come and take you away"

For What It's Worth Stephen Stills, 1966

A good man done gone. If you can, go to D.C. tomorrow and tell Dubya that you will carry on for Paul.

My sympathy for his family.

-- Arne Langsetmo

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: 53
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 04:24 PM

first the sniper and now this, sad, very sad.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Big Mick
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 04:57 PM

This was a man of principle, honor and courage. God be good to him.

Mick

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Charley Noble
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 05:36 PM

Damn! Another good man done gone, and also sadly those who were with him.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: catspaw49
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 06:03 PM

What a sad thing.......Words can't express what the remainder of his family must be feeling tonight.

Paul Wellstone was indeed a good man. There are a lot of good people out there, but generally by the time one reaches any kind of "station" in political life, they have been so "co-opted" (a good old 60's expression) that any vestige of the original person is long gone and they are simply another stooge to the money and the power. Very, very, few can maintain the honor, courage, and dignity that Wellstone did. Here in Ohio, we were fortunate to have Howard Metzenbaum for a number of years. The country has lost a precious commodity.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Gareth
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 06:34 PM

Charely India Alpha - With Extream Predudice ??????????

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: JedMarum
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 06:38 PM

very very sad news in deed. My thoughts and prayers to the families.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: The Pooka
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 08:06 PM

Horrible. Unbelievable. // Waaay too too much of this lately. // Gareth, I'm not ready to believe your hypothesis -- yet. ("It's not dark yet; but it's gettin' there." - Dylan) // May he and the other victims now rest in a true Peace that passeth all understanding.

Coldly: as indicated in article above, there are 2 separate vacancies now, separately handled (like Missouri last time): one vacancy in the *office* of US Senator for the term expiring Jan. 3 2002; and the other in the party's (is it still DFL --Democrat-Farmer-Labor?) *nomination* of a *candidate* for Nov. 5 election to the successor term beginning that same day. // The immediate question for my sister & brother state election officials in MN (& God be with them too; these situations ain't easy, believe me) is, may the party still replace the deceased candidate on the ballot? The article suggests Yes. / Here in CT it would be definitely Yes, even at this late point in the election calendar. But it varies by state. Of course. Remember there is no such thing, ever, as a "national election" here.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: The Pooka
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 08:12 PM

Jan. 3 *2003*, I meant, of course. Sorry.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Bobert
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 09:38 PM

I am totally bummed! Though being a Greenie, Paul Wellstone was the closest thing that those of us in the Green Party had as a Senator. He was a 60's activist who always put mankind ahead of money and politics. He was a sole spokesamn in the Senate for the woking class, the folks who get up at 4:30 in morning, grab their lunch boxes and have at it. He never, never gave into the corporations in the way he voted. He fought the good fights. He voted his heart. And he represented most what the Founding Fathers could have envisioned for democracy in our times. There won't be another Paul Wellstone in the Senate in our life time. An honest Senator. A man of courage and principle and a man with a sense of humor. He had that green school bus that he would speak from. I mean, that was Paul Wellstone. That was not corporate slick but real. I mean real.....

The political realities for out times were scarey enough before today but now.... oh, but now... Talk about unfettered access to the souls of the working class by Boss Hog. Yeah, they'll say all the right things but we're gonna have to buckle up our bootstaps now, 'cause a big Boss Hog is lickin' his chops.

(Can't think like that tonight, Bobert...) Yeah, my deepest heartfelt for Paul and Sheila's surviving children, as well as their friends and other members of the Wellstone's family.

But before I sign off for the night, I'd just like to say that I'm purdy f**king mad that somehow or another, during my life time, that one spokesman for humanity after another gets killed while every redneck right wing jerk gets to flail their anti-human crap. Yeah, and we end up with a Senate packed with rednecks while folks with compassion, like Babby Kennedy, like Malcolm X, like Martin Luther King and like Paul Wellstone's voices of love, compassion and the betterment of the human condition are silenced. Sure this might have been an accident but as sad as I am, I am no less angry tonight. It's not fair. Why *our* best? Why?

Peace be with you, Paul, and Sheila and Marsha. We'll carry it on from here...

Bobert

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: The Pooka
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 09:48 PM

Well said & Amen, Bobert. Amen.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Oct 02 - 11:22 PM

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.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Mudlark
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 12:51 AM

Just saw a repeat of a Charlie Rose interview with Wellstone, recorded last year...oh lordy, what a loss...

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 12:51 AM

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.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 01:16 AM

McLaughlin was the 'guy who kept the candidate going'
James Walsh
Star Tribune

Published Oct. 26, 2002 MCLA26

He was young, full of energy. Always, it seemed, Will McLaughlin was on the go. He had risen to lead the fraternity his older brother once led. From college, he jumped into the Democratic political theater his father helped fuel.

For all these reasons, the 23-year-old McLaughlin had become the constant companion to U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone on the campaign trail. This was his first foray into a statewide campaign, say those who knew McLaughlin. Judging by his humor, zeal and energy, no one ever thought it would be his last.

"Wherever Paul was, there you saw Will," said Wellstone communications director Jim Farrell. "He had that all-important role in a campaign -- he was the guy who kept the candidate going."

He was the son of Mike W. McLaughlin, a man former St. Paul Mayor George Latimer called one of the most colorful and steadfast Democrats in St. Paul history. McLaughlin, who died in 1997, served for years as the DFL's Ramsey County and Fourth Congressional District chairman.

A champion mountain biker and cross-country skier, Will McLaughlin had amazing energy, said his mother, Judy McLaughlin. He once raced with Greg LeMond, the champion bicyclist. "One thing about William is that once he decided to do something, he went all the way," Judy McLaughlin said Friday.

After graduating from St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights, McLaughlin enrolled at the University of Minnesota. He joined the same fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon, where his older brother Dave was president. He rose to leadership positions within the fraternity, becoming president of the university chapter and one of three students on the national board of directors.

"Will was a leader since before I got there," said Michael Kohn, the chapter's vice president for member development.

Kohn said that when McLaughlin was in charge of recruitment, the fraternity had its largest incoming class.

Judy McLaughlin said that her son, just a few credits shy of graduating, got the "opportunity of a lifetime."

Paul and Sheila Wellstone were longtime friends of the McLauglin family. After McLaughlin finished an internship for Wellstone last spring, the senator asked him to join his staff. McLaughlin was developing a passion for politics and aspirations for public service, Farrell said.

Whatever his future held, those who knew Will McLaughlin were certain this ride with the Wellstone campaign would have been only the start of bigger things.

"He was a bright, articulate, charming, handsome, wonderful son and wonderful brother," Judy McLaughlin said Friday night. "He was ready to take on the world. And it's going to be a sadder place because there isn't a William McLaughlin here to help run it."

Survivors include two other brothers and four sisters.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 01:17 AM

Mary McEvoy was 'a bright light' in DFL politics
Trudi Hahn
Star Tribune

Published Oct. 26, 2002 MCEV26

Mary McEvoy was a shining voice in grass-roots DFL politics and a nationally respected researcher and advocate in the field of early childhood development.

She was also good friends with Sen. Paul Wellstone's wife, Sheila. They rode the senator's campaign bus together during the 1996 reelection run, and McEvoy, 49, died Friday with the Wellstones in a plane crash on their way to a funeral and a political debate in Duluth.

"She was a bright light, just like Paul," said state Rep. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis. He met McEvoy when they both worked the floor of the 1998 DFL convention to get Mike Freeman endorsed for governor. McEvoy served as Freeman's field director in that campaign; Sheila Wellstone had made the political match.

McEvoy, associate chair of the state DFL since 1999, "had great political judgment, great people skills," Freeman said. "She deeply loved politics -- the excitement, the energy, the policies. It wasn't just theater for her."

To her political career, she brought sharp academic skills, honed at the University of Minnesota, where she was a full professor and chairwoman of the Department of Educational Psychology.

"She's a faculty member the likes of which you rarely see -- she had this enormous energy and commitment," said Robert Bruininks, interim president of the university. They became close friends after he, as the chairman of educational psychology, helped recruit her from Vanderbilt University in 1990.

"It's very difficult to achieve full-professor status in a place like the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus," he said. Candidates are judged on their research, their teaching and mentoring and how well they connect their work to the community, he said.

"Some people are good at one of these things, some at two of them. Mary was accomplished in all these things."

She and Scott McConnell, who succeeded her as director of the university's Center on Early Education Development, had recently devised a way to measure individual growth development indicators, said Todd Otis, a former DFL chair and now executive director of Ready 4K, an early-childhood advocacy organization. The measurements were "about comparable to a physical growth chart, but it's for their literacy skills," he said. McEvoy served on the board of Ready 4K.

An active member of St. Luke's Catholic Church, Mc Evoy sang in a vocal group, said a friend, Mary Kay Orman of St. Paul. "She had a lot of faith in action. She lived her life that way" and didn't forget her advocacy at church either -- she spoke out for the ordination of women and for embracing gays and lesbians into the faith fold, Orman said.

Survivors include her husband, James (Jamie) Cloyd of St. Paul, and three children at home: daughters Claire, a junior in high school, and Becca, a ninth-grader, and a son, Luke, a seventh-grader.

Services will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. Luke's, Lexington Pkwy. and Summit Av., St. Paul.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 01:18 AM

Tom Lapic: Calm in the clutch
Anthony Lonetree
Star Tribune

Published Oct. 26, 2002 LAPI26

The government was immobilized in Washington, D.C., when the terrorists struck, but the activity was nonstop in Sen. Paul Wellstone's St. Paul office.

Calls flooded in from constituents and the news media on Sept. 11, 2001 -- and in the quiet center was Tom Lapic, Wellstone's deputy state director.

It was Lapic, said Josh Syrjamaki, a fellow Wellstone staff member, who spoke with the senator by phone, letting him know what was happening elsewhere, never flinching.

"Whenever there was a crisis," Syrjamaki said, "it was always Tom Lapic who was the calmest and steadiest thinker."

Lapic, 49, who worked for Wellstone since the senator's first term in Washington, died in Friday's plane crash.

The former seminarian was a soft-spoken man rarely quoted in the press but was a valuable adviser to Wellstone, sharing with the senator a belief in the good that government could do and a man to whom Wellstone often would say: "Hey, Tom, listen to this. How does this sound?"

"Tom got involved for all the right reasons," said Connie Lewis, Wellstone's state director. "People came to us with difficult situations, and he really believed, 'There but for the grace of God go I.' Everyone had a story, and he thought everyone should be given the opportunity to share it with us and with Senator Wellstone."

In Eden Prairie, where Lapic lived with his wife, Trudy, he also was remembered for the advice he gave to the daughters of longtime friend Mike Farrell, helpful words that were accompanied by Lapic's steady supply of Diet Pepsi, potato chips and licorice.

Eventually, he would give up the chips and the soda, but never the licorice: "Red and black," Farrell said.

Lapic and Farrell met as high school freshmen at the Crosier seminary and prep school in Onamia, Minn., where they studied for the priesthood. Both changed their minds but kept close ties, becoming partners in a chimney business in the 1980s.

After getting "worn out by it," the two men decided to chase other opportunities, with Farrell becoming a teacher and Lapic editing a weekly newspaper in Chanhassen before accepting a job with Wellstone in Washington, D.C., Farrell recalled.

During that time, Farrell said, Lapic renewed his friendship with Trudy, whom he had met in college. The relationship began with a phone call, which led to $200 and $300 phone bills and then to the surprise announcement that they had gotten married.

"It was a sweet romance," Farrell said.

In recent weeks, he added, when Lapic left Wellstone's St. Paul office to work directly on the campaign, Farrell knew his friend couldn't wait until it ended and he could spend more time with his wife.

He loved quiet evenings.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 01:19 AM

Pilot, a Wellstone favorite, once flew for American Airlines
Glenn Howatt
Star Tribune

Published Oct. 26, 2002 CONR26

Airplane Capt. Richard Conry was a favorite of Sen. Paul Wellstone, who often requested that he be on the senator's chartered flights.

Conry, 55, was the pilot Friday on Wellstone's flight to Eveleth, Minn., and was one of the eight victims.

"He loved flying," said his wife, Johanne Conry. "Ever since he was a kid in Edina. Richard had this little plane when he was 16."

He began working as a dialysis nurse a few years ago after he left American Airlines.

"He was such a helping individual that he knew there was a shortage in that kind of area and he couldn't think of a better way to help," said family friend JoAnne Olson.

Conry joined Executive Aviation of Eden Prairie in April 2001 and had nearly 5,200 hours of flying time, the company said.

Olson said Conry went back to flying because he missed it so much, but he continued to work with dialysis patients part time.

"He was a very good pilot, totally conscientious," said Olson. "He always made the right decisions about when to fly and when not to fly."

Olson was one of many family friends who had gathered at the Conry home in Minnetonka on Friday night.

"Everybody here is wondering how and why did this happen," she said. "We are just wanting and waiting for all kinds of answers to be found."

Conry's friends remembered his dedication to others, his passion for biking, and his devotion to his wife of 15 years, Olson said.

In addition to his wife, Conry is survived by a sister and his mother, according to Stephen Etheridge, another family friend.

"We've lost a very, very dear friend," said Olson.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 01:20 AM

Co-pilot was living his dream before doomed flight
Maura Lerner
Star Tribune

Published Oct. 26, 2002 GUES26

Michael Guess grew up in St. Paul with one goal in mind: to become a pilot. Last summer, he realized his dream, becoming a co-pilot for Executive Aviation, a private charter company in Eden Prairie.

And Thursday, he excitedly told his mother he was going to fly with Sen. Paul Wellstone. "He heard Wellstone didn't like flying, so he and the pilot were going to have to try and make him comfortable," said his cousin, Irish Conley. "Too bad he didn't change his mind altogether."

Guess, 30, was killed along with Wellstone and six others in Friday's crash.

Guess, who was engaged to be married to Jan Nelson but hadn't set the date yet, died doing what he always loved, say those who knew him.

"He said flying is like a passport to your imagination," said T. Mychael Rambo, a friend and neighbor. "I don't think there was anything he thought he couldn't do."

Guess had such a single-minded passion for flying that family and friends say he seemed destined for the job.

"Ever since he was little, he talked about being a pilot," Conley said. "I used to take him to all the air shows."

Born in Benton Harbor, Mich., Guess moved to St. Paul as a child, and attended Highland Park Senior High School through his junior year. He graduated from Cretin-Derham Hall. He studied aeronautics at the University of North Dakota, earning his degree and pilot's license in 1997, Conley said.

He became a customer service employee for Pan Am International Flight Academy in Eagan. John Rosengren, former director of the school, said Guess was well-liked and worked well with students.

In 2001, Guess joined Executive Aviation as a pilot. He had logged about 650 hours flying, and was certified as a commercial pilot, his employer said. On Friday, he was flying with Capt. Richard Conry, a veteran pilot.

Company officials said they were "deeply shocked and saddened by the tragic loss of two of our pilots . . . Both were very dear to us and will be greatly missed."

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 01:21 AM

Wellstone's daughter had passion for politics herself
Norman Draper and Terry Collins
Star Tribune

Published Oct. 26, 2002 MARC26

The flag was at half-staff at White Bear Lake High School's south campus Friday, and students were crying in the halls. Popular Spanish teacher Marcia Markuson had died in the plane crash that killed her father, Sen. Paul Wellstone, her mother, Sheila Wellstone, and five others.

Markuson, who went by the name Marcia Wellstone when she was on the campaign trail with her dad, was 33 and one of the school's best-liked teachers. She had taken a leave of absence this fall to work on her dad's campaign and had started to feel some political urges of her own. Her husband, Todd Markuson, 41, said that when she was out on the hustings with her father, fellow Democrats would wonder aloud about when she might follow in his footsteps.

"They had all commented to Paul about how good she was, how she was a chip off the old block, and they were questioning when she would start her own political career," he said. "[DFL gubernatorial candidate] Roger Moe said he had a job for her if he got elected."

Markuson, of Apple Valley, had taught at White Bear Lake High since 1991. She had checked in at the school periodically while on leave to make sure her substitute had the Spanish class well in hand, said Principal Audrey Buss.

Even though she hadn't taught yet this school year, her death hit the school hard. Buss said she got the news around noon from a teacher who had heard about the crash on the radio. The news then went out over the intercom, and the school lapsed into stunned silence.

"As soon as everybody found out, it became deathly quiet," said junior Steve Morrison, 16. "You could hear a pin drop."

Then came the crying and the hugging, and calls flooded the school switchboard. The school day continued, but Buss set aside two rooms for counselors to talk to students. Students will gather at the school today to plan a brief observance before tonight's football game.

"She was a teacher who motivated students and related well to them," said Larry De Nucci, director of schools for the district. "Lots of kids are grieving here today."

Markuson grew up in Northfield, Minn., and earned her bachelor's degree in Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master's degree in education from Hamline University in St. Paul. As part of her undergraduate training, she spent a year studying in Madrid. She had a 7-year-old son, Joshua, from a previous marriage, and three stepchildren: Sydney, 8; Matthew, 12, and Acacia, 10.

She and Todd Markuson married two years ago on Valentine's Day, brought together by their grieving for a mutual friend who had died in a motorcycle accident.

"We were soulmates," Todd Markuson said. "We spent our lives trying to find each other, we were so much in love. We still said we were on our honeymoon."

Todd Markuson, a supervisor for United Parcel Service in Eagan, said his wife was especially pleased to be able to campaign for her father after being otherwise occupied during his past two election campaigns. The first time, she was a college student; the second time, she was a new mom. This time, she was taking full advantage of her opportunity.

"She'd go out for 10 to 12 hours campaigning, and I'd come home from work and ask her how her day went," Markuson said. "It was about an hour debriefing session. . . . She said to me a couple of times, 'I think I could like this.' "

Markuson noted that his wife was nervous about traveling on small planes and often chose to drive, instead of fly, to the next campaign stop.

"She would always call me on her cell phone whenever she was going to fly," he said. "She called me this morning and said, 'I'm leaving to fly with my folks; you know how spooky I get on smaller planes.' And I said, 'Don't be silly; there's no reason.' "

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 01:22 AM

Sheila Wellstone became a respected voice in her own right
Patricia Lopez
Star Tribune

Published Oct. 26, 2002 SHEI26

From a homemaker who dropped out of college to support her husband in graduate school, Sheila Ison Wellstone gradually grew into a political force of her own, becoming a nationally recognized advocate on domestic violence.

At barely 5-foot-3, she was, friend Beverly Dusso said, "a tiny, little piece of dynamite. She had huge energy and a mighty spirit."

By the time her husband had won his upset Senate victory, said Dusso, who knew her since 1989, Sheila Wellstone had already singled out domestic violence as her issue.

Why she did so is something no one seems to know for sure. "I think it was just because she saw so many families destroyed by it," said Dusso, who runs the Tubman Family Alliance, a shelter that operates in Minneapolis and Ramsey County.

Her latest triumph was, perhaps, her greatest. The man believed to be the Washington, D.C., sniper is being held under a federal law that prohibits those under a restraining order for domestic violence from possessing a firearm. It was Sheila Wellstone who put the proposal together. Paul Wellstone got it passed as part of the Domestic Violence Firearms Prevention Act.

Once Sheila Wellstone seized on the domestic violence issue, she devoted a passion to it that was as marked and outspoken as that of her fiery spouse.

"When it came to domestic violence, she could raise as much cuss and hell as any construction worker," said Ray Waldron, president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO.

With that spirit was an ever-present sense of hope and fun. To raise awareness of the issue, she took part in a Minneapolis-to-Mankato motorcycle ride, clinging to Waldron as they rode his Harley. That's when the woman of the well-coiffed hair, stylish dress and impeccable fingernails allowed that she used to go riding motorcycles as a girl with her brothers in the hills of Kentucky.

"She was a lot of fun, more than almost any friend I've ever had," said Marcia Avner of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits. "She always found something to smile about."

'Complete partners'

But more than her advocacy on domestic violence issues, more than her spirit or occasional sarcasm, Sheila Wellstone was known first and foremost as her husband's most trusted adviser, revered friend and cherished companion.

"She was very much in love with Paul, her kids and her grandchildren," Avner said. "She was always at his side. They were complete partners in everything they did."

She and Wellstone met at 16, when she was a high school junior in Arlington, Va.

In a February 2001 interview with Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine, she said that after he asked her out, "there's never been another man in my life or a woman in his life since that night."

She dropped out of college to help put him through grad school at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and when he became a professor at Carleton College in Northfield, she took a job as an assistant librarian and raised the couple's children, David, Marcia and Mark.

That's when Pam Costain met her. "I used to baby sit their kids," Costain said, fighting back tears at the Friday night vigil outside the State Capitol. "She was a really remarkable woman who never would have imagined that she would be in the public position she found herself in."

Costain said that when she first met Sheila in 1969, "she was a little shy, somewhat reticent. She was always very much at his side, but quiet."

Once Paul Wellstone scored his upset victory in 1990, Sheila "grew into her public role in an amazing way," Costain said.

In Washington, the senator included her in every policy discussion and found her office space. "He never made a major decision without Sheila's advice and consultation," Costain said.

Over time, Costain said, Sheila Wellstone "found her voice" and became an outspoken advocate who did her own appearances and speeches. In his second term, Paul Wellstone became fond of breaking the ice at gatherings by noting some award his wife had won or speech she'd been asked to give. "She's more sought-out than I am," he would say in a mock mournful tone.

Indeed, Sheila Wellstone began traveling the state, visiting battered women's shelters and giving speeches nationally.

"She was present for the opening of every decent battered women's shelter in the state of Minnesota since he was elected," Dusso said. The once-shy girl from Kentucky would stride into a shelter dining room, plop herself down at a table with the women and "talk by the hour," Dusso said.

Dusso said Sheila Wellstone helped create the national Violence Against Women office, which put a national focus on the issue and became a means for directing federal dollars.

Because of her, Dusso said, "there was money all through this country to build shelters, strengthen programs and train police on how to deal with domestic violence."

For the past four years, whenever a battered woman in Minnesota needs a shelter for herself and her children, she can make one call, to the Day One Center, Dusso said, "and she will be kept on the line till we find her a place to stay. That was all Sheila's work and we were the first in the nation to do it."

Avner said Wellstone "was always a little bit in awe of the ability a senator's wife had to touch people's lives. She was humble, but determined to use it to help people."

"She was never without hope," Dusso said. "That's what I'll always remember about her."

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 01:24 AM

Funeral services are still unknown
Staff reports


Published Oct. 26, 2002 SERV26

Details of funeral services for U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone, his wife, Sheila Wellstone, and daughter, Marcia Markuson, weren't available Friday night, but planning for a community-wide memorial service had begun.

The Minneapolis office of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas said in a statement that it is working with other community groups to plan a memorial service but that no date had been set.

Sen. Wellstone was Jewish.

In keeping with Jewish custom, the service won't take place until after the funeral, the council said.

"Minnesota lost a passionate and exceptional leader today," said David Orbuch, the council's president. "We express our deepest sympathies to the Wellstone family and to the families of the people who perished today."

Gov. Jesse Ventura's office informed the Wellstone campaign Friday that the Capitol rotunda is available if the family wishes to use it, said John Wodele, the governor's spokesman.

The rotunda has been used for reviewal of famous Minnesotans, including former Vice President Hubert Humphrey and former Gov. Harold Stassen.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Genie
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 02:34 AM

Thanks, guest, for the stories on the others lost in this tragic crash.

Genie

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Lepus Rex
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 07:59 AM

Yes, thansk, GUEST, for those articles. And thanks, Jim, for explaining the political situation. I'll have to disagree with you about "Skip" later on. :)

I'm still pretty sick about this. (I'm awake at 7AM because I feel like I swallowed a cup of ground glass) Seems like a bad dream. Ah, well, back to bed.

---Lepus Rex

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 09:34 AM

Thanks, GUEST. What a remarkable group of people...what an incredible loss.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: The Pooka
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 01:08 PM

An irretrievable loss. Awful. Horrible.

Statements by the Senate leaders on theUS Senate website with links to Sen. Wellstone's site.

Yes & thanks for all the good info.

(Now coldly, again) - Jim Dixon, but mightn't the respected elder-statesman Mondale, if he's willing, be the best chance to save the Senate seat? Granted, he's no Paul Wellstone. But, who IS? I always thought Mondale a good man & good liberal, albeit not the pure progressive crusader that the late great Senator was.

Re the absentee ballots - here in CT ABs checked off for a candidate no longer on the ballot as of election day, count for no one for that office. Can't "transfer" to new candidate of that party. (Makes sense, since the old single-vote straight-party-ticket option was banned by state-constitutional-amendment referendum vote in 1986.) BUT any AB voters who haven't yet returned ballot may validly write in the new candidate's name & it counts as long as it's broadly identifiable re who they mean. A voter issued an AB may always *apply* for a new one (for any reason at all, at any time before election day -- people lose them, change their mind, etc.); then the later-postmarked of the 2 is counted if both received back by poll-closing, & the other one is voided. But when it's this late, there isn't time for the snailmail transactions as a practical matter. We'll soon find out what MN provides re these mattters, I'm sure. / ABs are always a problem with a late-occurring ballot change. Of course, so are the "regular" election-day ballots, in whatever format & voting mechanism. / Somebody will say Let's postpone the election, I imagine. Easier said than done, with all the other offices & candidates at stake too.

What a terrible tragedy for the nation; plus an election mess for Minnesota.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: DougR
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 01:22 PM

Liberals lost a strong effective voice when Paul Wllstone died. He believed strongly in his political philosophy and from all reports voted his beliefs, popular or not. He surely will be missed. My thoughts and prayers go to his remaining family members.

DougR

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: The Pooka
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 01:38 PM

Well said, DougR. / And may he have some fine friendly debates in heaven with a principled populist Senator from your side, who was fortunate enough to live out a full lifespan here, Barry Goldwater.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: catspaw49
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 01:39 PM

Which should be the real issue for all Doug. We had a thread awhile back remarking on things that many pols don't have.....like the courage of their convictions, if they have any left. I made mention then of the fact that I really am more concerned with the honesty and courage than their voting record, liberal or conservative.

When my Mom died, the minister at the funeral was a good friend who knew her well and often spent hours with her in conversation. He said something that day that I liked and should be the epitaph of anyone holding public office. "You didn't have to agree with Margie, but you always knew where she stood."

Spaw

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 02:50 PM

If Mondale is nominated by the DFL, it might be safe in terms of conventional wisdom, but not in terms of non-conventional wisdom, which is where the Wellstone for Senate campaign is going to be coming from. Mondale is anathema to everything that Wellstone stood for, and I doubt you would get the votes for him from the CURRENT Wellstone faithful, ie the youngest, best, and brightest of the DFL party, to come out and vote on election day. They would see it as a betrayal of their progressive values. You might be able to get Mondale to squeak into office, but he wouldn't have grassroots support that Wellstone has. Wellstone has 30 something campaign offices state wide, and had 10,000 volunteers already recruited for getting out the vote on election day. Even the Minnesota Republicans admit now (rather quietly) that they pretty much figured Norm had already lost the campaign. Wellstone was gaining in the polls steadily, and his vote against Bush on Iraq seemed to be making a significant difference in pulling support from disgruntled progressives back from the Green Party to Wellstone.

Nobody in the DFL party owns that grassroots infrastructure but Wellstone. No, the DFL will have to be much more unconventional than that, despite the conventional wisdom both in among the Minnesota and national conventional punditry.

The only sure bet here is if one of Wellstone's sons steps in. However, I have no idea if either of them are willing to serve. I haven't heard any of the buzz yet--we've kept to ourselves, except for at the vigil last night, since we've heard the news. But we are on our way to anti-war demo, and friends of the campaign are now starting to drift back into town for the funeral, so we'll see what happens. And I already sent an email to the Senate office via Wellstone's Senate website, saying I would support either of his sons. So, you never know what could happen--it would take a small miracle to get one of his sons to step in, considering they lost almost the whole family, but you never know. People's strength emerges in strange ways in these sorts of crises. Maybe we will see a Wellstone carry on yet. That is the scenario I'm praying for anyway.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 03:11 PM

Ventura said yesterday, he would let the Minnesota Supreme Court sort out the ballot issues & make their recommendations, and he would follow their lead.

BTW, the source of the rumor that Wellstone's name couldn't remain on the ballot legally seems to be the attorney general's office, and he has already come out backpedalling on that today. Oddly, he held a press conference within hours of the crash, saying the party would have to appoint someone. Considering that he is one DFLer who's name was immediately as a possible replacement, and knowing he has designs on the top statewide jobs (ie Senate and/or Guv), people thought it a bit opportunistic to come out on the day with such a claim.

Nobody is accusing him yet of trying to make political hay out of this, but everyone agrees that if the Governor came out and said it was much too early to be speculating as to what the implications for the ballot would be, why the rush to judgment (which turns out to be very possibly be wrong today) from the AG's office? The Republican Secretary of State was a bit quick out of the starting gate too, claiming that anyone who voted for Wellstone via absentee ballot, their votes would not count, but Coleman's votes would (Coleman is the Republican candidate for Senate). What is it with Republicans always being in such a hurry to throw their opponent's votes out the window? Anyway, she (the Secretary of State) could end up with egg all over her face if the state Supreme Court decides that Wellstone's name can remain on the ballot after all.

Don't think this is anywhere close to Mondale on the ticket, and Wellstone off, folks. Not by a long shot. The media rush to decide who the people of Minnesota will get to vote for seems to be stopped dead in it's tracks today. Believe me, the Wellstone camp will come back out swinging. And before election day too.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: DougR
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 03:29 PM

Yes, Pooka and Spaw, I agree. We do need more politicians like Wellstone and Goldwater. Right now, I can't think of anyone in either party though.

DougR

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: NicoleC
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 04:40 PM

I can only think of one other politician that is as dedicated to her principles, and that's House Rep. Barbara Lee of CA. Even her constituents that drastically disagree with her opinions admire her courage and consistancy is following her moral compass. One day she may mature into a fine leader; I'd love to see her take Sen. Boxer's spot in the Snate.

I also think that Colin Powell could be such a leader, if he chose to. So far, he hasn't.

I had hoped one day to cast a vote for Sen. Wellstone for President -- it was a long shot that he would ever run successfully, but it would be nice, for a change, to vote for someone that not only has steadfast convictions and principles, but also the political experience to make an effective President. It would be the day I got to vote for someone that I actually wanted in the Oval Office.

I guess I'm still in shock. For us left-leaners, we've just lost the strongest and best voice we've had in a long time -- and probably the ONLY one in my lifetime -- that not only had the beliefs, but the ability to work with others who disagreed with him and come to viable solutions.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: The Pooka
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 06:05 PM

Thanks Doug, Mr. Spaw, NicoleC. / See, we can all agree on something. A good sign.

Wellstone-campaigner Guests, your intense grief & perhaps anger are entirely appropriate and understandable, and please accept sincere (really) condolence & sympathy. This was an inconceivable tragedy that took from us all a truly great man; and his & yours is a great cause, which surely does carry on.

I'm a civil-service state Elections Officer. Connecticut, not Minnesota; I don't pretend to know your election law ("There is No Such Thing as a 'National Election'" - The Pooka's Proviso) nor your politicians. But just generically: I've worked 27 years for an Elections Division under six different partisanly-elected Secretaries of the State, of both parties. And I've worked with civil-service lawyers & other staffers of state Attorneys General also partisanly elected.

Please know that I mean no disrespect or uncompassion, in urging this: don't be too quick to assume that state officials are necessarily being political, or even just stupid, in their pronouncements re the ballot situation. They MAY be, granted; no denying that. But these are tough and sometimes complicated questions---and even if they are answered in plain-but-obscure black-letter law, when a thing like this happens people, including fine lawyers (I'm not of the Bar, so I plead nolo), sometimes run around in circles squawking and clucking until some dull bureaucrat (and God bless us, every one) comes up with the correct research. Often the provisions and precedents are there, and clear, but seldom-used and thus little-known and soon-forgotten. Sometimes, on the other hand, there's been a failure to "legislate for the exceptions" (not even state lawmakers can think of everything!); then it really does get sticky.

If I had a few bucks for every newshound who asked me in 2000 why in the world we would ever dream of daring to allow such an outrage as Joe Lieberman running for Vice President and U.S. Senator at the same time, I could (I didn't say "would":) support the Mudcat singlehandedly. ("Because, Mr. Brokaw sir, there is no federal, state, or municipal law prohibiting it...Pardon? Where does it say he *CAN*? Well, where does it say I can vanilla eat ice cream if I want to & somebody agrees to give me some...nonono sir, I'm quite serious...yes, of course I'll connect you with my supervisor...")

And, people naturally fall into the Is-Ought Gap: The gulf between what the law Is, and what they, in the sudden factual circumstances of the moment, feel that it Ought to be. Of course sometimes the judiciary cooperates in this questionable amendment process; see both Florida & US Supreme Courts 2000, and New Jersey Supreme Court 2002. (I exempt the US Supremes in the NJ matter because this time they wisely stayed the Hell out of a pure State issue, as they should have in Bush v. Gore, the question there being which slate of real-live candidates had won the State office of Presidential Elector, and the relevent dispute-resolution mechanism being set forth in the US Constitution with serene disregard to any role whatsoever for the Court.)

Minnesota is a pure State issue too. It should, and hopefully will, be decided in accordance with state law. Regardless of the important, but still transitory, political/ideological consequences. If it were CT -- which it ain't & I don't cite us as a model, just an example -- the name would mandatorily come off the ballot, and the party would permissively be allowed, but of course not required (can't do that), to replace. Here the unique circumstance where the deceased candidate stays on the ballot is specifically & exclusively defined: when the death occurs within 24 hours of the opening of the polls. Then there are further provisions for what happens if, like Mel Carnahan, he wins. Legislating for the exceptions. Black-letter law.

My point (if any) is: we shouldn't, in times of stress & strife, throw out established procedures (assuming there ARE some) just because the matter involves an officeholder who was, like Paul Wellstone, a hero. *Or* who, like Bob Torricelli, *isn't*.

May Senator Wellstone rest in peace in Abraham's bosom. And, may the justice & peace for which he & his wife long struggled, prevail.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 06:41 PM

Very interesting, Pooka!

Wellstone-campaigner GUEST, thanks very much for sharing so much with us. I was wondering earlier, today, if one of his sons might possibly step in. I cannot even begin to imagine the grief and shock they must be feeling right now, but I cannot help but hope one of them will do so. From everything I've heard about their parents, it sounds as though they were raised with a sense which would lead to such an action. I also believe so much of the future of our country could lie in their decision. May their god lend them wisdom, ease their hearts, and guide them to right action.

Thanks,

katasliberalastheyget

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 08:36 PM

Pooka, I can appreciate your perspective. I'm not suggesting state officials' motives are purely political. I'm definitely saying there was no reason for the Secretary of State and Attorney General to make statements claiming "this is what the law says" before they really sorted out what the law does and doesn't say, which is what happened yesterday in Minnesota.

As I said, the Attorney General has already come out and said some of the information he gave in yesterday's news conference was wrong. The Secretary of State is making what could well end up being a very shaky argument against Wellstone's name remaining on the ballot. But most the legal minds came out today and said it appears as though Wellstone's name CAN remain on the ballot if the party doesn't put forward a name by the deadline. Under those circumstances, if Wellstone would win, it looks like the Governor appoints an interim senator for one year, and a special election would be held in November 2003, with a return to the regular election calendar with the 2008 election.

Ventura came out today after a meeting with his lawyers, and said he wasn't doing anything yet, but he was keeping open the option of making an appointment.

The party came out today and said they wouldn't do anything until the family's wishes are known, so I'm hoping one of his sons will step in. Or that the Guv appoints Winona La Duke. :)

I'm not a Wellstone campaigner, BTW. I wasn't even sure I was going to vote for him, until his vote on Iraq. Many of us were waiting to see how he responded to that vote. I still may not vote for the DFL party candidate--it depends on who that candidate turns out to be.

I, like many, many progressives, feel the loss of his voice. I don't for an instant believe he is the only voice. I've been thinking about moving next door to Wisconsin to get Feingold as my senator.

There are A LOT of great progressive voices in this country. People seem to be forgetting that progressives don't usually work in the US Congress to bring about social, economic, and political change, but outside it. If the democracy is going to work, some of us have to be outside those halls of power, doing the work of a genuine opposition to those in power, like galvanizing opinion, creating new and visionary realities that show, don't tell, how we can change the world for the better.

I'm not discouraged. I just came from an anti-war rally with an estimated turnout of 10,000 people!!! The Wellstone campaign already has new t-shirts and signs--they altered them with the phrase "Carry it forward!" Nice, huh? If anything, the death of the Wellstones will inspire and galvanize the progressive community against this war. What better legacy could they leave than that? This is a definite turning point for our progressive community in Minnesota, but not for the worse. Hey--we've got a legacy of progressive populism here in the upper midwest--North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin--that goes WAY back. Well, for us Americans anyway! Wellstone was never a fluke here. He really was just another in a long line of progressive populists like Floyd B. Olson, Debs, etc etc.

But we are all very, very sad for the loss of these special folks who worked very hard fighting the good fight. They deserve to be honored and respected for that, and to mourned and grieved by all people who believe in a progressive activist approach, rather than just a liberal intellectual one.

But thanks to all of you--the support for him is great to hear. It's wonderful that Wellstone touched so many people outside the state too. It sometimes seemed like we Minnesotans were the only people who were lucky enough to know and understand him. It really is hard to say much beyond "I didn't agree with him" because on a personal level, Wellstone was a great guy. Very funny, very witty, very warm. And his first campaign was unbelievably great political theatre. The best I've ever seen. When he won the first time, it was just unbelievably joyous--we were all absolutely giddy. Which is what makes our sadness run so deep now.

I don't know how many of you remember back to when Wellstone was inaugurated. He handed a tape to VP Quayle, outlining his opposition to Iraq war, and then cornered Bush to tell him his thoughts on the war. Bush's response was "Who is this chickenshit"?

Today at the rally, someone was carrying a big sign that read "Chickenshits for Peace". No hand wringing here folks. We are carrying on, even today. The families of the loved ones killed are being very well cared for by this community, at the same time the broader community carries on the fight. Just like it should be in life, no?

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: The Pooka
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 09:03 PM

Guest - thanks, & good work! "Chickenshits for Peace" -- HAW! Right On!! / Midwest Progressives - don't forget Fighting Bob LaFollette.

Are Sen. Wellstone's sons over 30? I'm assuming so. That's the minimum age to serve as a U.S. Senator per US Constitution, Article I. (Even Teddy Kennedy had to be old enough, if barely, back in 1962.)

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: raredance
Date: 26 Oct 02 - 10:30 PM

Knowing about Bush 41's expressed opinion of Wellstone, it turned my stomach to see 5/4's piously insincere statement about Wellstone on the news last night.

rich r

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Oct 02 - 08:48 AM

Yes, I know what you mean rich r. There are a lot of statements like that being made, but remember that is the prez-select's job, and the custom of those in power. It would be unbecoming, not to say unpresidential, for him to have done otherwise. When the public expects a political leader to make a statement, as in the case of a fellow political leader's death, you say something nice. It is never considered polite to speak ill of the dead (even though there will always be some who do it, just to hurt those who are already truly grieving). At least until they are buried!

But there have been many genuine statements too--it was very difficult to watch Senator Tom Harkin's statement. Very sad.

There is to be a public memorial for all those who died in the crash on Tuesday at 6 PM.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Oct 02 - 09:21 AM

Oddly, I just read that CNN is announcing that the DFL party has chosen Mondale. Ahem. One of Wellstone's sons worked for the Humphrey campaign in 2000, so I wouldn't think that is the case. Some local Big Buck party contributors and some in the DNC seem to be getting a bit ahead of themselves here, considering the DFL Party Chair said yesterday in a very public press conference that the party was going to honor the wishes of the family in the selection of a replacement, if there was going to be one.

Someone needs to take CNN off steroids, methinks.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 27 Oct 02 - 03:57 PM

Yes, CNN jumped the gun. I heard the party chair being interviewed this morning, and he clearly refused to confirm the Mondale rumor. There CAN'T be an official choice yet because the DFL State Central Committee, which has the power to make the choice, hasn't met. I haven't heard anyone say when they WILL meet, but they must be notified at least 72 hours before the meeting occurs. And the committee has about 500 members--including at least one from each of the 87 counties, 2 from each of the 67 state senatorial districts, and more! (I got this info from the Constitution and Bylaws of the Minnesota DFL Party.) It seems very unlikely that a majority of them have even developed a definite opinion yet, let alone communicated that opinion to CNN or anyone else. I have failed to find a list of the members' names online.

I think it's probably true that the Wellstone sons and Mondale have made a private agreement, but no one can guarantee that the Committee will accept it. Mondale has said he won't comment until after the memorial service.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Oct 02 - 07:13 PM

Still no comments or statements from the family though, and when asked on the Sunday morning news shows, Daschle also refused to confirm that the Wellstone family had asked Mondale to run. This evening the DFL Party Chair did confirm the story about the meeting, and is supporting the story as it appeared on CNN.

It is beginning to look to me like there has been a lot of well orchestrated pressure put on the family to "choose" Mondale. The Minneapolis paper is reporting who exactly was at the meeting, which was five people, including David Wellstone, Sen. Wellstone's campaign manager, and his campaign treasurer. So now we know who "leaked" the Wellstone family wishes to the press--David Lillehaug, a party hack who headed up Mondale's presidential campaign in 1984, who was at the meeting to help represent Mondale, presumably. The whole thing churns the stomach. The "conventional wisdom" now appears to be that the family shouldn't even be allowed to bury the dead first, and that "the choice" should take precedence over the funeral.

However, I will give kudos to Wellstone's opponent, Norm Coleman (whom I dislike on a personal level because of his prfound tendency towards crass political opportunism at every turn). He has really been decent through this. So decent in fact, that he is beginning to make the Democrats look VERY BAD. Which of course could definitely work against the Dems on Nov 5th, if they can't clean up the politicking going on about the replacement "choice". It got EXTREMELY tacky looking in Minnesota today in a *shudder*/stomach turning sort of way.

This is all beginning to look and sound very orchestrated from national party levels. In fact, it is beginning to look like this race will go down in history as the Senate campaign where the contenders were hand-picked by the national leaders, rather than the local people. Pathetic, really.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: toadfrog
Date: 27 Oct 02 - 08:00 PM

I'm not sure I get your point, GUEST. Why "tacky"? The idea of local control is that all the people in the State help choose candidates, usually in a primary. With 9 days to go, they are not going to hold a primary. Surely the wishes of a decedent's family should be respected in matters which only affect the family, or its property. But public office isn't property and is not supposed to pass by inheritance. What principle requires that a deceased politician's family should select his successor?

What you say also sounds a lot like speculating about conspiracies that may not exist, for reasons I don't understand. What is your problem with Mondale?

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Genie
Date: 27 Oct 02 - 10:27 PM

Good point, toadfrog. In fact, Wellstone's own popularity with the Minnesota voters may well not transfer to another candidate who espouses his political views, partly because it was Wellstone's warmth and character, in addition to his zeal and commitment, that won him votes. I think not only the voters of Minnesota (particularly the Democrats) have a stake in who runs in Wellstone's stead, but so do Democrats and moderate-to-left-leaning individuals all over the US. A Coleman victory could well throw the Senate back to the Republicans, and I shudder to think of the consequences of having right-wingers in control of Congress, the White House, and, partly by virtue of that, the Judiciary.

For those who focus on the differences between Mondale and Wellstone, I have to ask:
Which would you rather have, if you had to choose -- Mondale running and winning or Winona LaDuke (or another progressive populist) running and losing? I'm not suggesting that I know who would win and who would lose, only that the issue is not just who runs but, more importantly, who wins.

There well may not be time before this election to find a candidate who really shares most of Wellstone's views AND who has the name recognition and poplarity to win.

Right now, the focus should be on grieving the loss of this great statesman and the other lives lost in the plane crash. But in very short order, the public's attention needs to be on election strategy. That's reality, I'm afraid.



Genie

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: The Pooka
Date: 27 Oct 02 - 11:27 PM

Associated Press -

ST. PAUL, Minn. (Oct. 27) - Sen. Paul Wellstone's oldest son has urged former Vice President Walter Mondale to step in as his late father's replacement on the Nov. 5 ballot, Democratic leaders said Sunday.

Mike Erlandson, chairman of the state's Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, said David Wellstone asked Mondale to run in his father's place. He and other surviving family members weren't immediately available to comment, the late senator's campaign staff said.

A group of up to 875 Minnesota Democrats will meet Wednesday to officially choose the substitute candidate for Wellstone, who died Friday in a plane crash.

Erlandson refused to say whether Mondale would be the nominee, although he has said the family's choice would weigh heavily in the party's decision. He said he believes Mondale will run if nominated.

If Democrats succeed in drafting Mondale, it will give them a powerhouse candidate for a six-day campaign against Republican Norm Coleman, the former St. Paul mayor who entered the race at the urging of President Bush. The race had been tight between Coleman and Wellstone and was a top target of Republicans trying to regain control of the Senate.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer on Sunday said the administration would wait until the Democrats formally name a replacement before commenting on the race. ''It's still appropriate to let the people of Minnesota grieve,'' he said.

State Republican officials have said they would attempt to cast a Mondale-Coleman race as a choice between a reluctant placeholder and someone who is eager to do the work.

''Walter Mondale is a good man,'' Coleman said Sunday, declining to comment further on his potential opponent. ''There will be a campaign, but now is not the time.''

Mondale, 74, hasn't returned calls to reporters or answered the door at his Minneapolis home.

Those close to Mondale said he isn't expected to comment publicly on a potential candidacy until after Tuesday's memorial service for Wellstone, his wife, daughter and three campaign workers who died in the plane crash. Relatives of the six passengers and two pilots visited the northern Minnesota crash site Sunday.

A reconstruction of the flight showed everything appeared normal as the pilot made his approach, Carol Carmody, acting chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board said Sunday.

She said they still don't know why about a minute after the last radio contact, the aircraft began drifting south, away from the airport, and slowing down before it crashed.

Erlandson said the blessing of Wellstone's surviving family members makes Mondale the clear favorite.

''He is certainly the public sentiment front-runner, among activists, among party leadership,'' Erlandson said. ''We've had hundreds of phone calls and e-mails.''

National Democratic leaders also have reached out to Mondale over the past two days.

During a visit to Wellstone's campaign headquarters Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle said Mondale was clearly the strongest choice, calling him ''the great unifier.''

''People in this state, people in this country can unite behind his strength,'' he said.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the chamber's No. 2 Democrat, said Mondale would have the immediate respect of everyone in the Senate.

''He's a person who would look forward to doing the things that Paul Wellstone wanted to do - do something about health care reform, take care of the underprivileged by passing a minimum wage. He would do something about prescription drugs,'' Reid said on CNN's ''Late Edition.''

Mondale had held the same Senate seat for 12 years before accepting Jimmy Carter's invitation to run for vice president in 1976. In 1984, Mondale challenged President Reagan for office and was soundly defeated.

He served as U.S. ambassador to Japan from 1993 to 1996 and has practiced law in Minneapolis since then.

The battle for Wellstone's seat was one of a half-dozen or so expected to determine which party will control the Senate next year. The loss of Wellstone leaves the chamber split 49-49 among Republicans and Democrats, with one independent, Jim Jeffords of Vermont, who is allied with the Democrats.

Gov. Jesse Ventura still hasn't decided whether to appoint a temporary successor who would serve until the election winner is officially certified. He met with lawyers Saturday and said if he names someone, it probably will be a Democrat and someone who doesn't plan to run for the office.

His spokesman, John Wodele, said Sunday that Ventura will likely wait until after Tuesday's service to announce his intentions.

''If the governor decides it's necessary to name an appointment it would probably be before the election, but there is no urgency right now,'' Wodele said.

Erlandson said he hopes Ventura will hold off and name the election winner if an interim fill-in is needed.

It appeared it wouldn't be legal to leave Wellstone's name on the ballot. Absentee ballots already marked for Wellstone won't count for the Senate race, but people who submitted them could go to the polls on Nov. 5 and submit a new ballot.

Two years ago, when Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan was killed in a plane crash three weeks before the election while running for the Senate, his name remained on the ballot and he beat Republican Sen. John Ashcroft. Carnahan's widow, Jean, was appointed to serve in his place and is now seeking election.

AP-NY-10-27-02 1907EDT

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Oct 02 - 09:33 AM

I received a reply to my e-mail to Skip Humphrey. I hope he wouldn't mind if I reproduced it here in full:

Sun, 27 Oct 2002 19:25:54 -0600

Jim: you are very kind. My first thought is how tragic all this is. We have lost a fine public servant and his family, and we have all lost a great friend.

I believe the very best way to move forward would be for Fritz Mondale to run. He has the seniority, the experience, and the vision to fulfill Paul's dreams - and to represent all of Minnesota in the very best way. Skiph

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Oct 02 - 03:18 PM

Thanks, Pooka, for the update.

Thanks, Jim, for that very gracious note from SkipH. Interesting days in politics, sad way to come by them, though.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Oct 02 - 05:36 PM

Toadfrog--there will be a meeting of the DFL Party Central Committee, which is 875 members, on Wednesday night to nominate a new candidate. That is required by law and by the rules of the party, which Jim Dixon provides a link to above. I am not suggesting that any conspiracy has occurred--that is your choice of words. The choice of words I would use are "back room deals" being made by the national Democratic party leaders, and forcing that "choice" on Minnesota voters. I don't know what exactly to call the "principle" (your word choice again) of allowing the deceased senator's family a say in the choice of the successor, but it obviously exists. Why else would the state DFL party chair state on Saturday that the successor to Wellstone would be chosen "according to the wishes of the Senator's family."

And here is what was VERY unseemly. Yesterday, Daschle held a press conference in front of Wellstone's campaign office, announcing that Mondale was the best candidate, before any public comment was made by the family, before a single funeral had taken place (they started holding them today), and at the same time the families were visiting the crash site where their loved ones were killed.

Here is the way the 10 PM newscasts on four networks looked last night in Minnesota, more or less in this order:

First, the video of the bus carrying family members of those lost in the crash, driving past the media pool stationed on the road outside the crash site.

Then, video of a makeshift altar made by the families at the crash site (one pool photographer from AP was allowed onto the crash site after the families had left, to film the wreckage). We are told the family members were there for about two hours.

Next, video of Wellstone's opponent, Norm Coleman, going in to one of the local news stations to appear on the Sunday morning political talk shows, giving roughly the following statement: "This is ONLY an election, for God's sake. We need to focus on burying the dead. Whatever amount of time God leaves us for campaigning, we will campaign vigorously, but now is not the time."

And finally, video of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle standing in front of what people are now calling "the Wellstone Wall" (ie the sidewalk in front of Wellstone's office, where people are leaving their flowers, mementos, etc) announcing that Walter Mondale is a hero of his, a great candidate for the people of Minnesota, and he is sure the Senate, the national party, and the people of Minnesota would support him as candidate. But it is unseemly to be speculating at this time."

THAT is the series of events that many Minnesotans are appalled by. They are seeing the national Democratic party, the national news media, and some local DFL party hacks all engaging in partisan campaigning in front of Wellstone's office for the benefit of the TV cameras, while the Republican opponent is putting things in proper perspective for Minnesotans, who believe burying the dead IS more important than choosing the successor. Minnesotans are perfectly well aware that the choice needs to be made, but everyone was supposed to have agreed on Friday that nothing was to happen over the weekend. What emerged on network television was proof positive a lot of back room meetings were taking place, a lot of Democratic politicking was taking place in front of local and national news media, and the whole thing was a complete turn-off. No matter what people think of Wellstone (and no, not everyone in Minnesota loved the man by a long shot), there is a genuine expectation that the customs of funerals and decorum of the office be honored and respected. They really weren't here in Minnesota. People instead saw the media justifying their appalling behavior, by saying "the election is only a few days away, so we have to report this."

No. That is not true. But it does prove why people now dislike the media just as much as they dislike the politicians. Because they show such contempt for the rest of us, who know full well that respecting and burying the dead is the first priority, and is not and should not be relegated to the second priority just because of an election. No election is that important, no matter how badly the Democrats or Republicans or media hacks want us to believe it is. Elections aren't more important than allowing the families and friends of those lost, and the people of the state of Minnesota who lost one of their senators, to bury their dead.

Norm Coleman is right. At the end of the day, it really isn't about the election at all. It is about grieving the loss of eight people who were killed in a tragic accident. Elections come and go. But this is the only chance we get to mourn the dead--and there are many, many people in Minnesota going about the business of doing just that. Thousands of mourners are turning out at memorial services around the state, and an estimated 20,000 people are expected to attend the public memorial service tomorrow night. There is a reason why Mondale and Wellstone's family aren't commenting yet. Because it wouldn't be decent to do so. At least not in the eyes of most Minnesotans.

This is OUR election after all, isn't it? Aren't we supposed to be allowed to vote for the senate candidate who will best represent our interests, rather than the senate candidate the President of the United States or the Senate Majority leader says we should be allowed to elect? People here aren't that interested in the balance of power in the Senate and the House. They are interested in getting someone in office who will fight for them, rather than the party or the money contributors.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Oct 02 - 06:46 PM

While I agree with you that it is wrong for them to speak up about Mondale before today, I have to say that it is about much more than just what Minnesotans want. This is such an incredibly important race for the direction of our entire country. Not just Minnesota's race, but also Colorado's and several others. None of them stand alone in the far-reaching implications of their successful bids for office. I don't think we can stress enough how important it is to maintain the checks and balances a Democratic majority can exert on this president, especially. I am deeply sorry for Minnesota's loss, but it has been obvious from the beginning that this is a huge loss for our nation, too and Wellstone certainly worked tirelessly for the good of our entire citizenry. Crass as it may seem, we need someone who has a good chance of winning. If that has to be Mondale, then so be it.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Oct 02 - 08:14 PM

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.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Lepus Rex
Date: 28 Oct 02 - 08:39 PM

Speaking of unseemly, did anyone catch (MN Department of Trade and Economic Development Commissioner) Rebecca Yanisch's statements in the Star Tribune today?

"My interest is showing up on the ballot for the U.S. Senate. I don't know how that will happen, but it may not be this year. It probably will not be this year, because I think former Vice President Walter Mondale is a dedicated statesman."

Eh...

Oh, and GUEST, you REALLY need a name... :)

---Lepus Rex

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 28 Oct 02 - 08:47 PM

Guest, whoever you are (and let me digress a moment, Guest, and recommend that you adopt a handle we can know you by, or better yet, become a member so your name or handle will be unique and no one will be able to impersonate you)--

Since you praise Norm Coleman so much, let me tell you what I remember of the first time I saw him on TV after the crash. His words were something like this: "I was shocked when I heard... I was up in a plane like that myself... I know how it feels... I said to my wife... I think... I want to... I will... I was... I... I... I..." until I wanted to shout, "THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU, NORM!" Granted, he got better in his subsequent appearances. Maybe someone told him how silly he sounded.

This was not the first time I was irritated by Coleman's manner of speech. He is an egotist, he tends to say whatever comes into his head, and he never uses one word when ten will do. I realize this has nothing to do with his principles, but I don't like them, either.

Coleman knows perfectly well (now that he's had time to reflect, and get advice from his staff) that anything he says now that sounds like a campaign speech, however brief, will backfire. So he is wisely refraining from campaigning. I think, out of fairness, Democrats ought to do the same. We ought to refrain from criticizing Coleman, at least in public. (My criticism doesn't count because this is just among friends, don't you know?) And we should refrain from talking about how wonderful Mondale is -- until the moratorium ends, which I think should be Wednesday.

It was between 8 and 9 p.m., Friday, on Twin Cities Public Television's " Almanac" show that I first heard anyone mention Mondale, and it was Minnesotans who mentioned him. You can watch the archived show yourself; just click on the link. I don't think there is any justification for saying outsiders are forcing anything on us.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Oct 02 - 09:55 PM

My recollection of Friday, which because of the blow when I heard the information, my mad dash to pick up people & head to the vigil, isn't great. But I do seem to recall it was Lillehaug who first mentioned Mondale, and started the "Mondale for Replacement" campaign. On Friday. I remember thinking how creeped out by the interview with him I was, though at the time, I didn't know why. But as soon as I read the article posted at the Strib website late yesterday afternoon with all the gory details of the Saturday morning meeting, well...

I agree, Rebecca Yanish and Norm Coleman--and my god, that horrid, horrid man who is the Republican party chair--have all looked bad. As to Coleman, I really cannot stand him either. But I don't think his reaction on Friday was unusual for a self-absorbed ego maniac, so I really don't hold it against him personally. I think he was deeply shocked. As a friend of mine said, Coleman is a terrible actor, and it was obvious he wasn't acting.

I'm also not so sure that the only reason Coleman isn't campaigning is because his aides told him not to. I really think he isn't campaigning because he genuinely feels the loss for the Wellstone family particularly, and he knows he won't get anywhere doing it anyway. I'm not saying they were close, but it takes a pretty slimy reptile not to feel compassion and empathy for ANY family forced to bear what the Wellstones are suffering right now.

I, and a lot of people I'm talking to about this, really just don't get how people can be THAT cynical. To be so cynical about life as to think that the election really is the most important thing here.

I try and give credit wherever it is due, even to people I really dislike and disagree with. I have a newfound respect for Norm Coleman as a result of this catastrophe. I think in the clutch here, Norm showed he was made of better stuff than some of these Republican party hacks, both nationally and locally. But that was starting to already show awhile back when he was in DC for a fundraiser, and he admitted that despite the Bush Push to War in Iraq (tm), Iraq wasn't what the people on the ground in Minnesota were talking about, the economy was.

So to Norm's credit, he was already pretty tuned in to the disconnect between Minnesota voters and Beltway party hacks and media whores. His own fate has ended up being intimately entwined with that of those who were killed in this crash, and I do think that is what he was commenting on in his own babbling, self-centered way on Friday. I can forgive him for it, considering the circumstances.

At times like this, you have to forgive a lot of people inserting feet in mouth. It is a very stressful, bizarre circumstance. No one has any experience with something like this.

But it is clear who the class acts in Minnesota and national politics are this week. Mondale will be among them, but he is old school. A nest full of rattlesnakes couldn't get him out of his hole before Wednesday. Same with the Wellstones. I don't know what is up with former Republican governor Arnie Carlson's grandstanding today, speaking of reptiles.

Who really thinks Paul Wellstone would have come out politicking this past weekend had the circumstances between him and Coleman been reversed? Not me. That is one of the many great ironies in all of this. Senator Wellstone certainly wouldn't have condoned any of this shit. Wellstone wouldn't have behaved the way Daschle has--ever. Wellstone never would have condoned the back room deals being
"leaked" to the press less than 48 hours after the crash. That one must have come as a very bitter pill for the Wellstone family to swallow.

Crisis and catastrophe always bring out the best and the worst in people, and we tend to see people for who they truly are. And in the case of politics, we tend to remember them that way for a VERY long time, which is a poetic justice of sorts as far as I'm concerned.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Genie
Date: 28 Oct 02 - 10:24 PM

Guest, I don't agree that the grieving of Wellstone's family and friends is more important than who controls the Senate. But I totally agree with what you said about "... the media justifying their appalling behavior, by saying "the election is only a few days away, so we have to report this."

The Democrats, and Republicans, in general DID need to think about the political aftermath right after the crash, because crucial decisions needed to be made in very little time. But the general public does NOT need to hear the speculations and punditry of the media's talking heads right now. There is no valid reason I can see why the media couldn't have kept a respectful silence on those issues until after Wellstone's memorial -- and until they actually had some facts to report instead of making predictions.

If there are questionable legal shenanigans going on in the interim, that's the real shame. But if the media know that those shenanigans are going on -- as opposed to just having heard rumors, they do have a responsibility to report it.

Genie

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Bobert
Date: 28 Oct 02 - 10:55 PM

Same old crap, Paul... Wish you were here.

Bobert

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Oct 02 - 08:11 AM

The lead story in today's Minneapolis paper starts out thus:

"A shaky four-day politicking truce, agreed to Friday to mourn U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone's death, is barely holding, as Republicans and DFLers accused each other of violating the spirit of the deal."

We then go on to read that only about half the US Senate will attend (guess which half that will be), and Trent Lott (required by protocol to attend I'm guessing). The president select, according to Bush administration sources, is not required by protocol to attend the funeral of a sitting US senator, but the VP select is. Except he won't be attending either. According to Bush administration sources, Cheney won't be attending because the family didn't want him! Ouch!

So much for the eulogies and respecting the memory of the man, rather than dissing one's political opponents. I'd say the Republicans shunning the Wellstone funeral is about as low as you can go. And I thought we'd be past all that today. Apparently not.

And Genie, I understand that to people outside Minnesota, who didn't know any of the people killed, that the race is more important TO THEM. My point is that it is not more important TO US. But it doesn't matter now, because the politicians and media whores have behaved so appallingly, it doesn't even matter anymore. The entire fiasco has been so hurtful, and done so much damage politically here in Minnesota, that at the end of today, it is us who will be left to clean up the damage inflicted on so many really sincere, genuine people who have devoted their lives to the cause of politics and public service because Paul Wellstone inspired them to get involved, and believe that politics really isn't evil. On top of the loss of the human beings here, we are also dealing with the death of a certain idealism that really didn't have to die along with Wellstone.

Or maybe it did. This whole unseemly fiasco will most definitely result in some people turning their backs on politics, and never being involved again. But it will galvanize and radicalize others to remain active. Some will withdraw from the Democratic party because of sheer disgust with the leadership and the way they conducted themselves in the past few days. Others will become all the more hardened and cynical--and become more partisanly entrenched in party politics than they ever would have had they, their senator and candidate and his family, been treated better at this time.

Congratulations cynics, you won. By refusing to respect the living and deciding that disrespecting the dead was a political necessity for your side, you defeated everything Paul Wellstone stood for, and made it all about crass politics instead. Pat yourselves on the back, and give yourselves credit for having bulldozed right over the democratic wing of the Democratic party, and crushing them once and for all here in Minnesota, along with the lives of grieving families and friends of the actual human being who held the senate seat. As you blindly marched right over us on your way to your Beltway victories in this all important election, I'm sure that as Patriotic Americans (tm), you must be very proud of your loyalties to your brand identities, be they Democrat, Republican, CNN, or Fox.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Oct 02 - 08:44 AM

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.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 29 Oct 02 - 10:19 AM

Hm... Maybe that's why my Wellstone lawn sign was stolen.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Oct 02 - 10:47 AM

THAT is sick! eBay shouldn't allow it.

GUEST, please reread my last posting and my previous ones. I think you over-reacted just a bit to my last one.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: Genie
Date: 29 Oct 02 - 11:51 AM

Guest, I hope that that idealism will not have died with the Wellstones. And I doubt that it will, though there is not likely to be a worthy successor with Paul Wellstone's political standing in the near future.
Re whether it's more important to Minnesotans to grieve the people lost in that plane crash or deal with the upcoming election, I say this:
Sometimes we find we must, and can, deal with crucial, immediate practical concerns before we can let ourselves really deal with the personal grieving over the death of a loved one.
But again I completely concur that the mass media and many politicians have been far too concerned, too quickly, with 'hearing themselves talk' about what's gonna happen next in DC, when they should have honored the 4-day moritorium and let Minnesota bury the dead first. Almost as clear-cut a case of crass commercialism as that e-Bay stuff!

Genie

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Oct 02 - 12:51 PM

katlaughing, I just reread my post which only intially was in response to yours. You weren't the cynic I was referring to, the media whores and political pundits driving the madness machine were the ones I was referring to. Apologies if I made it sound as if that part of my criticism was directed toward you. That was not my intention, and I can see how it reads that way now.

I only meant to disagree with you that the election was more important than the waiting until after the funerals to resume the campaigns, and to disagree that the Minnesota race should be seen as more important in national terms (ie which party will control the Senate), than local terms. I don't believe that partisan national agendas trump the local agendas, even in what pundits claim will be a close election and which party will control the House and Senate. We have candidates for the senate race from I don't know how many political parties here in Minnesota, but we have 3 very viable political parties in this state, and a growing 4th party (the Greens), all of whom are running candidates for the senate.   In the governor race, the third party candidate is in a statistical dead heat with Democrat and Republican candidates. So our party dynamic in Minnesota is much different than anything on the national level. The Green Party and Independence Party senate candidates are very much a party of the Wellstone/Coleman race, because the polls showed the two candidates in a statistical tie. The national "balance of power" arguments are about which party will win the two party politics game. It is much more complicated here, because of third party candidates figuring so prominently as spoilers and very real contenders for public office. We have a third party government, and enough third party elected officials at lower levels of local government, where nobody counts them out and automatically dismisses them anymore. Not since The Body entered our politics, and Nader/La Duke not only took over 5% of the vote in the last national election, but got Green Party candidates elected to various offices on their coattails as well.

IMO, the main reason why people aren't concerned with who controls Congress is that they only see Congress as one monolithic group, not as two ideologically different parties. I mean, the entire Congress keeps voting for the Bush agenda, so really, there isn't much to distinguish the two parties right now. People pretty much see all national level electoral politicians as the spineless reptiles they truly are. Or as I think it was Barbara Boxer said in her remarks about Wellstone yesterday, most of the Congress is too afraid to come down on the losing side of a vote to act out of conscience with conviction.

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: NicoleC
Date: 29 Oct 02 - 01:00 PM

Ha! Like Boxer has any room to talk about Congressmen being spineless!

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Oct 02 - 01:15 PM

Genie, the practical realities were being dealt with by Minnesotans. What is more "life must go on" than having to plan funerals and memorial services, and all the other practical realities that need attending to in the wake of eight people being killed in a single catastrophic accident. Add to that that one of the parties killed was a sitting US Senator, and you can see how people were a little busy with details, like "what the hell happened" and "who is going to do what" and "who do we call for this"--some of which DID deal with the upcoming elections, but most of it really truly was the need for Wellstone campaign and Senate staffers needing to take care of all the business at once.

The last thing they needed was a DFL hack campaigning for Mondale in the media on Friday afternoon, before the fire from the crash was even extinguished, and then leaking the details of the Wellstone family's attempts to do the painful work of meeting with possible replacements for their father to CNN as a trial balloon for their guy.

Ever try planning both a private family funeral for three family members, a public memorial for eight people and their families to broadcast nationally, with politicos and dignitaries coming from all over hell and creation during a close senate campaign to boot? No? Neither have I. Imagine that some of us thought the Wellstone family and campaign, as well as all the state political offices (like the Secretary of State and Attorney General) needed some time and privacy to sort a very complex situation out. Hatch was at the prayer vigil on Friday night, and I heard someone in front of me say to someone they were with "Hey there's Hatch--should we go tell him "shoulda waited 'til Monday, eh?" I think all of us would have been fine waiting for the details from those offices until Monday, because no campaigning was going on over the weekend anyway (supposedly), and they never stopped mailing absentee ballots. But hell folks, this happened on a Friday. It all could easily have waited until Wednesday anyway, considering it was so damn close to the election, most of it wasn't going to matter anyway. We Minnesotans would have appreciated it if ego maniacs looking for their political 15 minutes of fame had refrained from carrying out all the tedious business that had to be dealt with in front of national TV cameras...

Is it so wrong to say so? I mean c'mon, we aren't idiots here in Minnesota, nor are we so overcome with grief that we aren't taking care of the business that gets taken care of in the wake of a tragedy like this. It was all being done. It was all being dealt with. Nobody was holding anything back from anyone, they simply weren't talking about what they were doing and/or thinking about doing publicly is all.

As to the idealism being crushed--it has happened, mostly with the young Wellstone supporters who are so turned off by all this. They are angry, and they feel betrayed by the party, because the party showed so little respect for Wellstone, his family, and them. I know one kid who had gotten an internship with the campaign this fall who was a poli sci major at the University. He quit yesterday in disgust over the whole fiasco, and was sobbing when I met him in front of the campaign offices yesterday afternoon. What the hell do people expect when you slap people around who have just had their hearts broken, and their dreams dashed like that?

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Oct 02 - 01:20 PM

Thanks, GUEST, I had read it that way. I appreciate the clarification.

I agree, wholeheartedly, that there should be NO campaiging until the funerals are done. I thought I had stated that.

It is fascintating to learn more about a state which actually supports more than the usual two parties and I agree somewhat with your take on what Congress has become. However, Congress being of one, blended accord, pales when compared to a truly one party state such as Wyoming.

I hope that all Americans will really think about the other parties available and work for real changes, as it is obvious Wellstone and his fellow Minnesotans have done.

Thanks,

kat

Subject: RE: Obit: Senator Wellstone, plane crash
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Oct 02 - 01:34 PM

Actually katlaughing, Wellstone didn't work for any party but the Democratic party--he was rabidly partisan. Though very good friends and colleagues with people from other parties, he would work with them only if the work didn't interfere with the Democratic agenda he was pursuing.

Right now, I wouldn't say most of his fellow Minnesotans are cooperating all that well either, as has been made plain in the past 48 hours. In fact, come tomorrow morning, there will be a cooperative blood bathing among politicians interested solely in ripping at each others throats and going for the jugulars of their opponents. Politics is still very much a blood sport here, we just spread it around more than y'all do in Wyoming. ;-)