Missing Mr. Wellstone

Three years ago this month, I was hired as a field worker for Senator Paul Wellstone's re-election bid in Minnesota. The experience was irreplaceable - for the things it taught me about myself, and because it gave me the opportunity to work for a role model and a personal hero. He was authentic, and so inspiring. My mother had a stroke that summer, and the week after she went into the hospital, he called me on my cell phone to ask how I was doing, and to give me (and my mother) his best wishes. This meant more to me than any vote or speech he ever gave - that he could take the time out during one of the most contested Senate races in the country to give me a call and check in on me caused me to choke up. That he did this from a stop at the Minnesota State Fair really blew me away (the State Fair in Minnesota is almost like a sacred pilgrimage for folks! It must be the butter sculpture that keeps bringing people back...or maybe it's the cheese curds).

At any rate, Sen. Wellstone was everything I could ask for in a politician. Tragically, he died in a plane crash that year, days before the Election. Now politics seems to lack his voice - his unique, maverick, "conscience of a liberal" voice. As this (several month-old...sorry!) article from Anna Quindlen points out, we'd be wise to remember Paul's passion and conviction, and truly remember what it means to be an authentic liberal. As Quindlen writes, selling out is worse than losing. And if that can be the lasting legacy of Wellstone, I think we're all in good shape.