ST. PAUL, Minn. (REUTERS) — Former vice president Walter Mondale confirmed Wednesday that he will become the Democrats’ new Senate candidate in Minnesota, replacing the late Sen. Paul Wellstone in a race crucial to congressional control in next week’s election.
As the 74-year-old veteran announced his decision, a poll showed him holding an eight-point lead over the Republican candidate handpicked by the White House, former St. Paul mayor Norm Coleman, 53.
Mondale’s edge in the poll was roughly the same as that held by Wellstone in recent surveys, whose death in a plane crash last Friday injected new uncertainty into both the Minnesota contest and the Democrats’ hopes for holding their one-vote edge in the Senate.
Mondale, perhaps the most widely respected senior politician in Minnesota, had been considered the likely choice for days, but his place on the ballot will not become official until he is nominated and confirmed by a vote of the party’s State Central Committee Wednesday evening.
“If nominated, I will accept,” Mondale wrote.
“It is with a heavy heart but a great hope for the future that I will pick up the campaign where Paul Wellstone left off,” he added.
“Paul cannot be replaced; no one can. But his passion for Minnesotans and their needs can inspire us to continue the work he began.”
“More than ever the ordinary working families in our state need a voice, and I will fight for them — for better schools, economic opportunities and to protect Social Security and pensions,” Mondale continued.
Minnesota has twice elected Mondale its attorney general, twice sent him to the U.S. Senate, voted on his side when he was elected vice president and backed him — the only state to do so — by a narrow margin when he lost a bid for the White House in 1984’s landslide victory by Ronald Reagan.
Turned down pleas
Mondale later served as ambassador to Japan and remained in the public eye in Minnesota through numerous appearances while working as a lawyer. He turned down pleas to run again for the Senate in 1990, a contest Wellstone won.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, asked about the prospect of Mondale as senator, said, “the president thinks that Norm Coleman represents the future, has a vision for the future of Minnesota, and he strongly supports Norm Coleman.”
Wednesday’s poll by the Star Tribune showed Mondale ahead of Coleman 47-39. It was based on a survey of 639 likely voters and had a plus-or-minus error margin of 3.9 points.
The newspaper said a poll two weeks ago showed Wellstone leading Coleman 47-41.
A moratorium on campaigning ended with a politically charged public memorial service Tuesday evening for Wellstone, his wife, daughter and three campaign aides killed in the crash along with two pilots.
Coleman immediately hit the road Wednesday for a round of fast-paced appearances in the suddenly changed political landscape prior to Tuesday’s balloting.
Meanwhile, the state’s maverick governor, independent Jesse Ventura, told a radio station Wednesday that he was disturbed by the partisan political nature of Tuesday’s memorial service and might appoint an independent — not a Democrat as he earlier indicated — to take Wellstone’s place until the winner of the election is certified.
Certification would usually take place perhaps two weeks after the election, but there were some legal questions that could cloud the outcome. The Democrats have sued to block a plan under which election officials planned to count absentee ballots for Coleman but reject any already cast for Wellstone.
In addition, Democrats are questioning plans to hand-count the separate new Senate ballots and the fact that an “X” will be needed on the Senate ballots while a filled-in oval is required on the rest of the ballot. They are demanding that those who already voted absentee be sent new absentee ballots.
