Beth writes,
My senior year of high school it was announced that the county was looking for people to work as “junior election judges” on election night. I don’t remember all the details, but I was 17 at the time and signed up. I can’t remember if I was supposed to get paid or not (I didn’t), but I didn’t do it to get paid; I was excited to get to help people vote and maybe steal an “I voted” sticker. Ten days before a very close election, the plane carrying our incumbent senator crashed in the north woods. I don’t know any Minnesota liberal over the age of 20 that is completely over the death of Sen. Wellstone, his wife, his daughter and his aides. Election day rolled around, as it had to
despite our grief, and we had to hand count the provisional ballots that had been printed. While Mondale carried our precinct, Coleman won over all. In the six years since then, Sen. Coleman has proven that he is a politician in the worst sense of the word. He’s finally up for reelection. I’ll be voting for Al Franken soon, but I still wish I had gotten the chance to vote for Paul [Wellstone].
Oh, Senator Wellstone, an early community organizer whose politics I could get behind, including the “Organization for a Better Rice County, a group consisting mainly of single parents on welfare, which he organized to advocate for public housing, affordable health care, improved public education, free school lunches, and a publicly-funded day care center.” If only.
Meanwhile, if any of you are in the NYC area on Thursday night, PPNYC is organizing a VP Debate Watch Party:
Thursday, October 2nd at 8pm
Slainte Bar & Lounge at 304 Bowery (between Bleecker & Houston)
Join them for games and drink specials.
And by the way, if you aren’t registered to vote, GET ON IT. You can find out if you’re already registered, and if not, find out your state’s final registration dates here.
I met Wellstone just about two weeks before his death. We were at a cocktail reception and I started speaking with him about what I do, which I don’t talk about on the blogs, but which I have an almost evangelical passion for. In Washington, only a few real liberals are on board with me, and Wellstone and I connected right away. He understood what I was talking about and he believed what I believed.
Wellstone had an astounding physical presence. He was only about 5’8″ tall, but broad and as solid as a block of granite — he was a collegiate wrestler and he looked like he hadn’t missed a workout since. He gave the impression of both confidence and approachability, sort of the way Mike Rowe comes across on television. We only spoke for a short while, but he made a huge impression on me. When I saw the news, I was crushed.
It’s not just Minnesotans who haven’t gotten over that particular tragedy. Wellstone was a national figure.
Though he was already a senator by the time I got to Carleton, I knew lots of people who’d taken classes from him who were just crushed when the news came out.
I had already sent in my absentee ballot when Wellstone’s plane crashed. It was my first time voting for him, and I had been really excited. All of the Minnesotans I knew at college had gotten together to witness each other’s ballots (a peculiarity of our state’s absentee system), and we were all pretty excited about voting for him… and pretty crushed when the bad news came.
My parents and I had to spend about $30 to get my replacement ballot to me and back to the state in time. It wasn’t until just about a year ago that I realized that was effectively a poll tax…
I met Wellstone twice–once at the MN State Fair, then again when I was in Washington for Bread for the World’s lobbying day in 2000, asking him to sign on to a piece of legislation offering debt relief to insolvent nations. He was already familiar with the legislation, and he said, “I want to thank you guys for the work you do.” “Senator,” I said, blinking back tears, “You’re the one with the perfect voting record on hunger relief. Thank *you*.” He was a good person as well as a good politician.
I never had the opportunity to meet him, but I wish I had. I admired him for many things, not the least of which was his work on the mental health parity bill.