Wellstone!

So, I recall back in 2002 when I was doing nothing much of anything except waiting tables and following a few U.S. Senate races pretty closely.  My favorite to follow was the Wellstone/Coleman race in Minnesota.  Recall that this election came right at the heels of the rushed vote for the AUMF and under incredible pressure to vote yes, Wellstone stuck to his guns and voted no, and, as I recall, made a pretty good speech about it on the floor to boot.  

He was always a hero of mine.  I remember in 11th grade (it woulda been 1996, snow was on the ground) me and a friend of mine went up to Minnesota to visit my sister at college and, in a very unserious way, check out a few colleges on our own.  Yes, we were geeks, but we made it a point to head to what I think was Wellstone's St. Joseph, MN campaign office.  We picked up a t-shirt and a bumpersticker or two, probably chipped in a couple of bucks for them as they weren't going to make much of a difference to out of staters, and were on our way back on the road, smoking cigarettes and enlivened by all of the freedom.  I had that green Wellstone! sticker on my bumper for several years and only got rid of it once the old Red Baron died.  True, I think most folks thought the sticker was some strange reference to smoking pot or something, but I was proud to have it on my car.  

So, fast-forward to 2002.  He's a hero of mine still and it's a tight race between Wellstone and the craven Norm Coleman.  All of a sudden, out of the blue, Wellstone's campaign plane crashes in Northern MN, killing the senator, his wife, his daughter, and the pilot.  Just like that.  I'm sure I cried myself to bed that night on my huge pillow, and I always get wistful and nostalgic when I think of what a great senator he was, and, from the anecdotes I've heard from folks who have had first-hand experiences with him, what a great and decent man he was (these latter qualities being pretty rare in politicians as I understand it).  As you probably know, Wellstone was then replaced on the ballot by fmr. Vice President Walter Mondale, who went on to lose the seat to Coleman.  

This is all to point you toward the following video, highlighted by Ezra Klein earlier today.  In it, Coleman's campaign manager tries to evade questions about some suits that someone allegedly purchased for Senator Coleman as a gift and that went unreported (whether for good reason or not).  I don't typically like to watch folks squirm like this, but, well, since 2002 I've pretty much felt like the apotheosis of my political spectating would be reached once Coleman goes down to ignominious defeat of huge, humiliating, world-historic proportions.  Because he's a slimeball, a fake, and basically the perversion of everything Wellstone was.  Oh, and he has funny teeth.  Personally, I think Coleman's routine funding of an unjust war that's resulting in the deaths of all manner of soldiers, civilians, children, etc., should be reason enough to oust the douchebag.  But apparently that's not enough to get you fired these days.  Well, if having a foreign-sounding guy buy your nice suits will do the trick, then I'm all for it.  Again, couldn't happen to a nicer guy.  

Coleman is locked in a tight battle with the very funny Al Franken and former senator and independent Dean Barkley.  I really don't care whether Franken or Barkley wins.  I don't know enough about either of their positions on various issues, but I know enough to know that I don't necessarily find either utterly repellent.  And, of course, anyone is far preferable to Coleman.  So I hope one of the two challengers wins.  And, as Klein points out, and I hope he's right, this Neiman Marcusgate thing just might push Franken over the top, or at least Coleman out the door.  We can hope.  This is one race in which I'll be closely following the returns come election night.  And, if as speculated, Coleman goes on to defeat, I predict I'll have that sort of warm civic feeling I got when I first voted and was (almost) impaneled on a jury, together with the feeling that some things can be made right (or as close to right as possible), but it just takes time.  

I sure hope someone can get it done for Paul come Nov. 4.