I didn’t know Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, nor did I know his wife, Sheila, his daughter, Marcia, or the other 5 people who died in a plane crash today. I did know Sen. Wellstone’s record in the Senate: a voice of loyal opposition. He was liberal, populist — I don’t believe he would have been insulted if I were to call him a democratic socialist.
Whatever label you may attach to him, he continued the strong Democratic/Liberal tradition of his home state, occupying the seat which in the past belonged to Hubert Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy and Walter Mondale. And whatever toll the tragedy takes on his family and friends, his death leaves the precariously-balanced US Senate wobbling on its fulcrum.
Generally, the governor of the deceased senator’s state will appoint a successor to the Senate seat. I believe it is up to the individual state to determine whether the appointee serves out the term of the Seantor or serves until a special election can be held. Either way, this leaves the decision up to notoriously unpredictable Independence Party Governor Jesse Ventura to make the decision.
It was going to be a close race for Senator Wellstone in his re-election bid against former St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman. Now the outcome is anyone’s guess.
My condolences to his friends and family.
