I was going to write about the upcoming U.S. House race between
Tammy Baldwin and Ron Greer. I was going to discuss how Baldwin has
been a poor representative, but I was going to be careful not to
endorse Greer either, because his views are way too far to the
right for this district.

After a U.S. senator from my home state of Minnesota, Paul
Wellstone, passed away, I was going to discuss this tragedy,
because even though there might not have been many issues we agreed
on, he seemed to be a man committed to his beliefs. I will discuss
this, but unfortunately, not in the same context.

Tuesday night, a public “memorial service” took place on the
University of Minnesota campus, supposedly to honor Senator
Wellstone, his wife, daughter and the five other people who
tragically died in a plane crash in northern Minnesota Friday. Vice
President Dick Cheney was to come to the event, until the family
requested he not attend.

A bipartisan group of national figures were on hand, including
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, Senate Minority
Leader Trent Lott, Wellstone’s opponent, former St. Paul mayor Norm
Coleman and Governor Jesse Ventura, just to name a few.

These leaders, many of whom flew in from all over the country,
were in attendance to honor a man they often disagreed with but
respected. The four major Minnesota television networks carried the
four-plus hour event live, and I tuned in on C-SPAN 2 in
Washington, D.C. I wanted to pay my respects to those who died well
before their time.

This should have been a wonderful ceremony honoring Sen. Paul
Wellstone; sadly, it almost immediately turned into a large
political rally for the Democrats, only comparable to a national
political-convention rally.

Watching, you could see the joy in former President Clinton and
Sen. Hillary Clinton’s faces. You could see Sen. Tom Daschle’s mind
just churning, thinking how this will be his ticket to at least two
more years as Senate Majority Leader.

Some liberal Democrats have accused Republicans of exploiting
the War on Terrorism for political gain. However, Republicans have
gone to great lengths to avoid doing this, because national
security should not be a political issue. Death is similar; it
should not be political.

Minnesota Republican Senate candidate Norm Coleman rightfully
suspended all campaign activities after Wellstone’s death. Yet,
Wellstone ads continued to run and Minnesota Democrats were busy
filing a lawsuit.

Wellstone’s camp issued something of an apology yesterday,
saying Tuesday night wasn’t intentionally political. But, it was a
Wellstone staffer, campaign treasurer Rick Kahn and Wellstone’s
youngest son, Michael, who really made the event what it was.

This was supposed to be a memorial, yet the audience was booing
Senator Lott as if he had just broken up a touchdown pass to Randy
Moss.

Most Minnesotans have more class. Minnesota’s Independent
governor Jesse Ventura said he felt “used,” “violated” and “duped”
— he wasn’t the only one who felt this way. Wellstone was an
extremely friendly person to everyone and had numerous Republican
colleagues he considered friends — yet they could not have felt
welcome at Tuesday night’s DFL rally.

Just as it would have been wrong for Coleman to continue his
campaigning over the past weekend, it is outrageous that Tuesday
night’s political rally for Walter Mondale and his party was done
under the auspices of a memorial service — all under the eye of a
captive television audience tuned in to pay their respects to the
late senator.

If Paul Wellstone really was the man everyone says he was, I can
only think he would be ashamed of Tuesday night’s rally.

People of all political ideologies should respect Paul Wellstone
for his fire and passion. But no one should exploit his unexpected
death for political gain. Disgraceful.

Matt Modell ([email protected]) is a senior
majoring in journalism and political science. He is in Washington,
D.C., this semester for an internship.