Sunday, Oct 27, 2002
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By Sridhar Krishnaswami
Mr. Wellstone's race in Minnesota was targeted by the Grand Old Party and the hope was that this seat, along with Missouri, will hand the Senate back to the Republicans. The GOP strategy in Minneosta is in trouble, for the Democrats, by State law, have enough time to put up a candidate on the ballot if they choose to. The 58-year-old lawmaker, a "true'' liberal, died on Friday morning along with his wife and daughter when the twin engine plane carrying eight persons went down in freezing rain in a place called Eveleth in northern Minnesota. Mr. Wellstone was on his way to attend a funeral. His death came just 11 days before the Congressional elections on Nov. 5. After sagging in the opinion polls against his White House-picked opponent, Norm Coleman, the two-term Senator, who was a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, was seen slightly ahead in the race this week, perhaps by about five to six percentage points. But the President, George W. Bush, had personally chosen the State for more than just one round of campaigning. Mr. Bush, after enthusiastically stumping for Mr. Coleman just 10 days ago, was planning a return visit a day or two before voting day. An example of how tense the political race was can be seen in the fact that Mr. Wellstone and Mr. Coleman had between them raised close to $20 millions. From Texas, the President paid warm tributes to Mr. Wellstone, calling him a man of "deep'' convictions. "He was a plainspoken fellow who did his best for his State and for his country'', Mr. Bush remarked. The Democrats are in mourning, but privately, the search for a replacement is said to have started. By State law, a political party can appoint a replacement within seven days of the death of a candidate and within four days of the election day. The party can choose to leave Mr. Wellstone's name on the ballot and if he still wins, it will be up to the Governor to decide who goes to Washington for an initial two-year period. The thinking in this part of the country is that given the stakes for the Democrats for the control of the Senate, the party should come up with a known and high profile name; hoping that this, along with the sympathy factor for Mr. Wellstone, could result in a win. And one thinking is that it should be a Mondale or a Humphrey if the Democrats stood a fighting chance. One name already doing the rounds is that of Walter Mondale, the 75-year-old former Vice-President and Senator who is now an attorney in Minneapolis. Whether he will accept to run is another matter.
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