Paul Wellstone, Fierce Fighter for His Beliefs -- Rest in Peace

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Subject: Paul Wellstone, Fierce Fighter for His Beliefs

Author:
Washington

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Date Posted: October 26, 2002 7:51:17 EDT

Sen. Paul Wellstone, the two-term Minnesota Democrat who died Friday in a plane crash just days before facing voters in his quest for reelection, took an unpredictable path toward becoming one of the best-known, best-liked and most committed liberals on Capitol Hill.

Born in the capital and raised in its Virginia suburbs, Wellstone came back to Washington in 1991 as a fist-raising outsider from the prairie, a rumpled and somewhat radical college professor who had upset a Republican incumbent with a remarkable populist campaign.

He promised to fight for liberal causes, kick up controversy and serve just two terms.

He died at age 58 having broken the last of those promises -- by choosing to seek a third term -- and having softened on the second -- by making so many friends on both sides of the aisle that he was no longer seen as such a lightning rod.

The erstwhile rabble-rouser, in the end, fit into one of the world's most exclusive political clubs. He mastered Senate courtesies, and the Senate mellowed him.

But Wellstone kept his first promise. Lawmakers and analysts from across the political spectrum said Friday that Wellstone fought relentlessly, often hopelessly, for what he believed in.

No less an adversary than Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), a stalwart conservative whom Wellstone had brashly denounced when he first arrived in the Senate, lauded the Minnesotan on Friday.

"Despite the marked contrast between Paul's and my views on matters of government and politics, he was my friend and I was his," Helms said. "He unfailingly represented his views eloquently and emphatically. Paul Wellstone was a courageous defender of his beliefs."

Helms, no stranger to fighting hopeless battles, often teamed up with Wellstone on international human rights issues. In 2000, the two ideological opposites vigorously fought -- and failed to stop -- President Clinton's legislation to normalize trade relations with the communist government in China. Wellstone was one of the first to call this year to check on Helms after the ailing North Carolina senator had heart surgery.

In a Senate where compromise is valued far more than impassioned speeches, Wellstone stood out as an advocate more than a legislator. His was often a lonely dissent -- such as the vote he cast this month against the resolution granting President Bush authority to make war against Iraq.

Wellstone was the only vulnerable Senate Democrat seeking reelection this year who opposed the president. In explaining his vote, Wellstone told a Washington Post reporter: "Just putting it in self-interest terms, how would I have had the enthusiasm and the fight if I had actually cast a vote I didn't believe in? I couldn't do that."

But his opposition this year was far more muted than his anti-war stance in 1991.

Then, Wellstone made waves as an uppity freshman senator who confronted the first President Bush directly on his Persian Gulf War policy during a White House reception for new lawmakers. The president, irked, reportedly looked aside and responded with an expletive.

Wellstone also staged a news conference in front of the Vietnam War Memorial on the National Mall, drawing the ire of many veteran groups. Wellstone later said the event was a mistake.

With the two Iraq resolutions serving as bookends to his 12-year Senate career, in between Wellstone compiled a record of advocacy for human rights in foreign affairs and higher government spending for domestic programs, such as health care, welfare and education.

Rarely one to cut deals in committee rooms, Wellstone was known for pleading his case at length on the Senate floor, even though it was frequently a lost cause.

Often, those watching a Senate debate could tell when it was about to end. There would be the 5-foot-5 Wellstone on C-SPAN, giving a speech, pacing next to his desk with a slight limp, his eyes bulging, his hands chopping the air.

"He was always the last guy standing with the last amendment," said Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.). "It was always about children, or the poor."

The Senate, almost always, would vote down that Wellstone amendment, whatever it was, and then finish the bill.

"Paul had a lot of heart, and a lot of passion, and intellect," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). "He occupied the liberal end, no question. In that sense, he was predictable. But that's a strength too."

His political alignment -- to the left of just about everyone -- also made him a prime target for Republicans. While Wellstone followed in the path of liberal Minnesota icons Hubert H. Humphrey and Walter F. Mondale, both senators who rose to become vice presidents and presidential nominees, his state also has sent conservatives to the Senate and elected an independent as governor.

This year, Bush and the Republican Party poured heavy resources into defeating Wellstone. The Democrat was campaigning vigorously this year despite his public acknowledgment that he had a mild form of multiple sclerosis. Polls when he died showed he had a good shot at beating the Republican nominee, former St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman.

Paul David Wellstone was born on July 21, 1944, in Washington, the second son in a family with Russian Jewish roots. He grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in Arlington, Va., and went to the University of North Carolina. There he earned a bachelor's degree in 1965 and a doctorate in political science in 1969.

He also became a champion wrestler, married Sheila Ison (who also died in Friday's crash at age 58, along with their daughter, Marcia, 33) and, importantly for his political career, was influenced by the civil rights movement and protests against the Vietnam War. His dissertation was titled: "Black Militants in the Ghetto: Why They Believe in Violence."

Wellstone landed on the faculty at Carleton College, a small liberal arts center in Northfield, Minn., and stayed there for 21 years until his election to the Senate. At Carleton, he took part in the antiwar movement in the early 1970s and once was arrested while protesting the U.S. bombing in Cambodia.

As a colleague recalled, Wellstone would push his students to observe state government and get involved in politics. His performance in the classroom foreshadowed his style in Washington.

"I saw him lecture. It wasn't a lot different from what he did on the floor of the Senate," said Barbara Allen, chairwoman of political science at Carleton. "He cajoled, he got his point across, he kidded, he teased. He was one of the most can-do teachers."

As an activist, Wellstone co-chaired Jesse Jackson's Minnesota campaign in the 1988 presidential race and volunteered for Michael S. Dukakis after he became the Democratic nominee.

Two years later, he took the state by storm in a guerrilla campaign against Republican Sen. Rudy Boschwitz.

Two of Wellstone's ads that year became part of political lore. In one, he crisscrossed the state in an old green bus, spitting out rapid-fire positions because, he said, "I don't have $6 million to spend, so I'm going to have to talk fast." In another, Wellstone stalked an elusive Boschwitz in pursuit of a debate, using a motif from the quirky documentary "Roger and Me."

He beat Boschwitz, 50% to 48%, in one of the year's biggest upsets. In 1996, he would beat Boschwitz again with a much better-funded campaign, 50% to 41%.

Wellstone's voting record in the Senate left little doubt where he was coming from. He voted for Clinton's plan to raise taxes in 1993 and against the 2001 Bush tax cut. He opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993 and opposed fast-track trade legislation this year. He consistently favored gun control and abortion rights.

Occasionally, Wellstone worked with Republicans on legislation. He and Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N. M.) led an effort to require insurance companies to treat mental health patients the same as those who suffer other illnesses. They won passage of one bill in 1996 and were pushing another, stronger version this year.

In 1998, Wellstone flirted with a presidential run but dropped the idea, quipping to Associated Press: "I'm short, I'm Jewish and I'm a liberal." He later wrote a book, "The Conscience of a Liberal," whose title echoed a line from Republican Barry Goldwater on his conservatism.

Wellstone and his wife, Sheila, are survived by their two sons, David and Mark, and six grandchildren.

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