THE DARK PRINCE ON THE HAPPY WARRIOR:

Paul Wellstone, RIP (Robert Novak, October 28, 2002, TownHall)

The decision by many endangered Democratic candidates this year to fudge on issues and even use the image of George W. Bush in their commercials was not for Wellstone. He was the only vulnerable Democratic senator to vote against President Bush's Iraq resolution, and he did not agonize about it.

In my many television interviews and occasional private conversations with Wellstone, he never hid his concern with the pragmatic leadership of the Democratic Party. He often stated that the party was losing its soul under Bill Clinton. When I told him he was my ideal Democratic candidate, Wellstone shot back that I was looking for a loser.

Kidding aside, he was sincere about a presidential bid in 2000 and would have tried had he been able to finance it. Laid-back Bill Bradley was not exactly the passionate Wellstone's kind of Democrat, but he was better than Al Gore in Wellstone's eyes. He could not tolerate the strategizing and hedging of the Gore candidacy.

When I chided Wellstone for breaking his two-term pledge, he told me he felt he was needed not only to counter Bush conservatism but also to avert the Democratic drift. Last year, he spoke out against his party's moderation in these words: "I think Democrats are without a politics if they're not bold and honest for the things they think are right."

This is the best tribute I've seen, because honest about the Senator's limited effectiveness and appeal, but admiring about him as a person and a politician. You have to wonder, if all the folks, like Tom Daschle, who are saying that the Democrats lost their soul in that plane crash may not be all too right. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 28, 2002 11:55 AM