Five years ago today (October 25, 2002) Minnesota lost a great senator and American progressivism lost one of it's most impassioned voices. Paul Wellstone was on the verge of being elected to a third term in the senate after a tough campaign against former St. Paul mayor and ex-Democrat Norm Coleman and in the aftermath of his death we've all been the worse off because of it. That day still stands as one of the most shocking to me, and I don't think I have ever been saddened by someone's death (with the exception of my own family).
I was fortunate enough to meet Wellstone at the Minnesota State Fair two months before he died. I won't bore you with the details, but I will say that he had a way of showing that he genuinely cared about you and what you believed. It was an overwhelmingly positive experience I will carry with me always.
But what I will miss most of all about him was that fact that he was the true progressive voice in the senate and as we complain about the constant compromises and cave-ins of the current "leadership" in congress, I can't help but wonder how it all might have been different, even if only a little bit, had Wellstone still been alive. I know that a single senator can't make that much of a difference, but I do know that Wellstone would have shown much more backbone than many Democrats are right now. Wellstone was standing up to the Bush-Cheney administration when it wasn't really "cool" to do so, back when Bush's approval rating was through the roof. He would definitely be standing up to them right now on a myriad of issues. I know that there are good progressives in congress doing what they can, like Senators Feingold and Sanders and Harkin, but for my money Paul Wellstone was the REAL DEAL and the Democratic Party really hasn't been the same since he's been gone.
I MISS YOU PAUL WELLSTONE!!!!!!