Paul Wellstone
Created | Updated Aug 22, 2003
Paul Wellstone passed away October 25, 2002. With his death was extinguished one of the few honest, progressive voices in American politics. A grassroots organiser and supporter of the common people, he was the point man in congress for education, elderly issues, small farmers, environmentalists, and the poor. He was in the middle of a bitter battle against all the power that the White House could bring to bear to unseat him from his senate seat. Millions of dollars were being spent in attack ads in the hope of eliminating this two term senator from Minnesota. A plane crash accomplished what the Republicans were unlikely to make happen.
Born in 1944 as the son of Russian/Jewish immigrants, Paul Wellstone would go on to a career in education, bacoming a professor at Carelton College in Northfield, Minnesota. He earned a reputation as a man of the people after organizing rallys for farm workers and then presidential candidate Jesse Jackson. He was even arrested during a protest standing up in support of local farmers who were being foreclosed on. He ran senate in 1990 on a shoestring budget, and was elected due to a combination of conviction and personal charm.
His senate career was marked by his sticking to his guns on every issue, unbowed by the big money and favor trading that marks American politics. He is the only senator to receive a 100% rating from the AFL/CIO, Americans for Democratic Action, and The League of Conservation Voters. In recent years he fought long battles against the banking industry in their push to toughen bankrupcy laws. He was a leader in the fight to preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and protect it from the drilling interests for entrenched in the Executive Branch of our national government.
The 2002 election race marked a change in tenor for the senator, who had promised to senve only two terms and return to academia. The single seat balance of power held by the Demotcratic Party in the senate was all that kept the Republican Party from controlling the Executive, Judicial, and both chambers of the Legislative branch. This provided Wellstone with the motivation to run for a third term. This decision was criticized on all sides and led to a hotly contested race which ended two weeks prior to the election with the death of the Senator in a chartered airplane crash, along with his wife and daughter.
Born in 1944 as the son of Russian/Jewish immigrants, Paul Wellstone would go on to a career in education, bacoming a professor at Carelton College in Northfield, Minnesota. He earned a reputation as a man of the people after organizing rallys for farm workers and then presidential candidate Jesse Jackson. He was even arrested during a protest standing up in support of local farmers who were being foreclosed on. He ran senate in 1990 on a shoestring budget, and was elected due to a combination of conviction and personal charm.
His senate career was marked by his sticking to his guns on every issue, unbowed by the big money and favor trading that marks American politics. He is the only senator to receive a 100% rating from the AFL/CIO, Americans for Democratic Action, and The League of Conservation Voters. In recent years he fought long battles against the banking industry in their push to toughen bankrupcy laws. He was a leader in the fight to preserve the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and protect it from the drilling interests for entrenched in the Executive Branch of our national government.
The 2002 election race marked a change in tenor for the senator, who had promised to senve only two terms and return to academia. The single seat balance of power held by the Demotcratic Party in the senate was all that kept the Republican Party from controlling the Executive, Judicial, and both chambers of the Legislative branch. This provided Wellstone with the motivation to run for a third term. This decision was criticized on all sides and led to a hotly contested race which ended two weeks prior to the election with the death of the Senator in a chartered airplane crash, along with his wife and daughter.
