October 25, 2002
WELLSTONE DEAD:
Plane Chartered by Sen. Wellstone Crashes; 8 Dead (Fox News, October 25, 2002)A plane chartered by Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., crashed Friday and all eight aboard died, a Transportation Department official said.
Rush Limbaugh just reported that Wellstone is confirmed dead, along with his wife and daughter, three staffers and two crew members. We'd no use for his politics but respect his service to his country: though often wrong, he was at least in the arena fighting for what he believed.
Posted by Orrin Judd at October 25, 2002 2:34 PM
Agree - while not liking his views you have to respect his service to the country.
Being a pessimistic Republican (is that redundent?) a sympathy vote will probably allow the Dems to retain this seat (similar to Carnahan-Ashcroft)
Well, when I heard the news from a byline on Marketwatch I went here first, before going to foxnews.com.
I did not like Wellstone, but now all I could do is wish his remaining children the best.
I do hope that this tragedy does not get in the way of Coleman's bid for Senator.
Does anybody know what happens form here, by law, or given that Dems are involved, by whatever means?
Posted by: MG at October 25, 2002 2:55 PMWith Jesse Ventura involved, if I were Tom Daschle, I'd be wondering where my desk was going to sit next week. Literally anything could happen on an interim basis.
Posted by: Tom Roberts at October 25, 2002 2:59 PM
I'll laugh at that, in a rueful, sardonic, shaking-the-head kind of way...
The Minn. statute allows the Dem's (whatever they call themselves in Minn.) to pick a replacement within 7 days of the candidates death and 4 days within the date of the general election. This means that they print new ballots and the new Dem candidate is on the ballot. I've read the statute and that sounds about right. In so far as all the absentee ballots that have already been sent out, all those that voted for Wellstone CANNOT be applied to the new candidate. So, it is definitely a disadvantage for the Dems in Minnesota.
Posted by: pchuck at October 25, 2002 4:44 PMI'm trying hard not to be paranoid, but it is striking that a Jewish senator has been killed in a plane crash in Minnesota where Zacharias Moussoui was living and learning to fly when he was arrested and where "Sheikh" Rahman is being held in federal prison.
I assume the government is going to take a pretty close look at this.
You know, I've never felt even a twinge of sympathy for Ted Kennedy until today. He was in MN campaigning with Wellstone, some early reports apparently even had him on the plane. So he said a few words about the Senator. And I'm thinking--he nearly died in a crash himself; his older brother died in one; his nephew died in one--for how many people in human history is it the case that airplane crash is a typical cause of death?
Posted by: oj at October 25, 2002 8:59 PM