Sen. Wellstone Dies in Minn. Plane Crash

Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.), a leading liberal voice in Congress who was locked in a tight reelection campaign, was killed in a plane crash in his home state Friday, along with his wife, daughter and five others.

His death 11 days before the Nov. 5 election -- coming as Democrats thought he was gaining the upper hand in the race -- could have major repercussions on the battle for the Senate. Democrats had a one-seat margin, and the Minnesota race is one of a handful expected to determine which party controls the Senate next year.

State law allows the Democrats to substitute a name on the ballot up to four days before the election.

Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, who previously represented Minnesota in the Senate, is a prominent name under consideration.

Wellstone, 58, was on his way to the funeral of a state lawmaker’s father when the twin-engine plane went down in a light snow in northern Minnesota.

The cause of the crash, including the possibility of icing on the wings, was under investigation. All eight people on board died, including three staff members and two pilots.

The staffers were identified as Will McLaughlin, 23, Tom Lapic, 49, and Mary McEvoy, 49. Richard Conry, 55, and Michael Guess, 30, were named as the pilots.

“As adults, we don’t have a lot of heroes. But he was my hero,” said Charlie Bulman, one of thousands of Wellstone supporters who gathered on the steps of the state Capitol in St. Paul on a drizzly, windy night Friday to mourn the senator.

Wellstone, in one of his last votes, opposed the Senate resolution passed earlier this month authorizing President Bush to use military force against Iraq. As was typical during much of his Senate tenure, Wellstone found himself very much in the minority on the issue; the resolution passed, 77 to 23.

But Wellstone was well-liked by partisan friend and foe alike, and widely respected for his commitment to his political beliefs.

Bush took note of that in paying tribute to Wellstone, calling him a “man of deep convictions, a plain-spoken fellow who did his best for his state and for his country.”

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), pausing from his own reelection campaign, broke down in tears as he spoke of Wellstone, a frequent comrade-in-arms for liberal causes.

“Paul Wellstone was my closest friend in the Senate,” Harkin said after composing himself. “He was the most principled public servant I’ve ever known.... It didn’t matter a bit if his was the only vote for or against something.”

In a typical comment from conservative colleagues, Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho) said that while he and Wellstone “differed philosophically and politically, I greatly admired and respected his energy and his commitment to public policy and the people of Minnesota.”

He added: “Paul was honest, cheerful and had a wonderful sense of humor.”

Another of Capitol Hill’s most consistent liberals, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), called Wellstone “more than just another Democrat. He was a Democrat in the mold of the Kennedys and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He made me proud to be called a liberal.”

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) called Wellstone “the soul of the Senate.” And Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, an independent, said the state had “suffered a deep and penetrating loss.”

At the gathering at Minnesota’s Capitol, that grief was evident.

Bob Freeman, 49, a volunteer with Wellstone’s campaign, said that he was supposed to join up today with him on the campaign trail. “I looked into his eyes and I knew there was a lot there,” said Freeman, who is disabled. “I just believed in the man. I just loved the man.”

Wellstone was facing a strong challenge from Republican Norm Coleman, a former mayor of St. Paul, in a race that has been watched nationally since the campaign’s start.

Democrats control the Senate, 50 to 49, with one independent. With 34 seats at stake in the Nov. 5 elections, a net party turnover of just one seat would flip control to the Republicans.

“Wellstone’s passing adds even more uncertainty to an already volatile political season,” said John J. Pitney Jr., a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College.

Another analyst, Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia, said he anticipates Democrats will hold Wellstone’s seat. “As long as the state Democratic party nominates a respectable candidate, that nominee will now be favored to take the seat.... An intense wave of sympathy may well help all Democrats in Minnesota on Nov. 5,” he said.

Like many analysts, Sabato noted the similarity of Wellstone’s death to a plane crash in Missouri late in the 2000 campaign.

Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan died in that crash less than a month before election day as he campaigned for the Senate against then-GOP incumbent John Ashcroft. Carnahan’s name remained on the ballot and he won. His wife, Jean, was appointed to serve in his place.

Minnesota state law permits Democrats to substitute Wellstone’s name on the ballot.

Ventura can appoint a successor until a new senator is elected, but he declined to say if he plans to do so. Ventura, who is not seeking reelection, did say he would not appoint himself.

Any appointment would be basically moot, since whoever wins the election would be sworn into the seat almost immediately, according to a spokesman for the Minnesota secretary of state.

Wellstone was a 5-foot-5 college wrestling champion who once called himself a “rock-the-boat politician.” The son of Russian immigrants, the former college professor who was once arrested in a bank for demonstrating over farm foreclosures upset a heavily financed incumbent, Republican Rudy Boschwitz, to win election to the Senate in 1990.

Mother Jones magazine called Wellstone “the first 1960s radical elected to the U.S. Senate.”

One of his first votes -- like one of his last -- was opposing a resolution authorizing the use of military force. He voted against the 1991 Persian Gulf War resolution. And he was the only senator in a tight race who voted against the recently approved resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Wellstone also was an advocate for the mentally ill. He and Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N. M.), both with close relatives with mental disorders, have worked together to try to expand health insurance coverage for mental illness.

In February, he disclosed that he has a mild form of multiple sclerosis but pledged to continue his bid for a third term.

When he was first elected, Wellstone said he would serve only two terms. But he said last year he was breaking that promise to continue to fight for liberal causes, and his reversal didn’t seem to cause a major flap in Minnesota.

On Friday, there was no indication of trouble aboard Wellstone’s plane before it crashed, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Greg Martin.

The twin-engine turboprop, which had taken off from St. Paul, was about five miles east of its destination, a small airfield in Eveleth, Minn. Eveleth is a town of about 4,000 residents in the rugged Iron Range country, 60 miles north of Duluth.

The last contact with the Beech A-100 was a routine communication about 10:20 a.m. CDT.

Eveleth does not have a control tower, so the pilots would have been making a visual final approach to the airport for a landing at their own discretion.

“The plane called in on the [local radio frequency] and [the pilot] said he was inbound for Runway 2-7,” said JoAnn Sipola, who works at Taconite Aviation Inc., a maintenance facility at the airport.

She said that a few moments later, air traffic controllers in Duluth called and said the plane had disappeared from radar. At their request, Gary Ulman, who owns the maintenance facility, got in his own private plane to look for possible wreckage.

“He told me it had crashed and burned,” Sipola said. “The tail section was identifiable, but that’s about all.”

The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates all aircraft accidents, sent a team of investigators to the scene.

Reflecting Wellstone’s prominence, NTSB acting chairwoman Carol Carmody planned to accompany the team and act as its official spokesperson.

Investigators will examine the plane’s wreckage for signs of mechanical problems, analyze the weather at the time of the crash, scrutinize radar data and delve into the backgrounds and actions of the pilots. The plane is believed to have been equipped with a cockpit voice recorder, an NTSB official said.

The Beech A-100 that Wellstone was flying in was built in 1989 and was registered to Beech Transportation of Eden Prairie, Minn. Records indicate no prior mishaps and no history of unusual problems.

Wellstone’s wife, Sheila, was 58; their daughter, Marcia, 33. The couple had two other children, sons David and Mark, and six grandchildren.

In one of his last speeches on the Senate floor, Wellstone explained his opposition to the Iraq resolution, saying he thought it was “too open-ended.” But he also offered a glimpse of the characteristics so many praised Friday.

He noted that some pundits had warned that a vote against the resolution could cost him his Senate seat, which also would cost his staff their jobs.

“I would like to thank my staff for never trying one time to influence me to make any other decision than what I honestly and truthfully believe is right,” he said.

“To all of my staff, I thank you for believing in me.”

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Times staff writers Eric Malnic in Los Angeles and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar in Washington contributed to this report.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Prominent air crash victims since 1972

Prominent politicians who were killed in airplane crashes in recent decades:

Oct. 16, 2000: Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan, his son and an aide are killed when their small plane crashes in bad weather south of St. Louis. Carnahan, a Democrat, was running for the Senate, and his name remained on the ballot. He defeated the Republican incumbent, John Ashcroft, and Carnahan’s widow, Jean, was appointed to serve in his place. She is now seeking election to a full term.

April 3, 1996: An Air Force jet carrying Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown and other civilians crashes into a mountain in Croatia, killing all 35 aboard. Brown was a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

April 19, 1993: South Dakota Gov. George S. Mickelson, a Republican, is killed along with seven other people when their state-owned plane crashes in a rainstorm in Iowa.

April 5, 1991: Former Sen. John Tower (R-Texas) was among those killed in a crash of an Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight near Brunswick, Ga.

April 4, 1991: Sen. John Heinz (R-Pa.) is killed when his plane collides with a helicopter over Merion, Pa. Heinz’s widow, Teresa, is now married to Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.).

Aug. 13, 1989: Rep. Larkin Smith (R-Miss.) is killed along with his pilot when their Cessna 177 crashes in DeSoto National Forest in Mississippi.

Aug. 7, 1989: Rep. Mickey Leland (D-Texas), who chaired the House Select Committee on Hunger, is killed when plane crashes during a trip to inspect relief efforts in Ethiopia.

Sept. 1, 1983: Rep. Larry McDonald (D-Ga.) is killed when Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by a Russian fighter.

Aug. 2, 1978: Richard D. Obenshain, the Republican Senate nominee in Virginia, is killed in a small plane crash outside Richmond. John W. Warner, who had lost the nomination race to Obenshain, was named to succeed him, won the election and remains in the Senate.

Aug. 3, 1976: Rep. Jerry Litton (D-Mo.), his wife and two children are killed when their plane crashes in Missouri en route to an election party. Litton had just won the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.

Feb. 14, 1975: Rep. Jerry Pettis (R-Loma Linda) is killed when his single-engine plane crashes into a mountain near Beaumont, Calif.

Dec. 8, 1972: Rep. George W. Collins (D-Ill.) is killed when his plane crashes on approach to Midway Airport in Chicago.

Oct. 16, 1972: House Majority Leader Hale Boggs (D-La.) and Rep. Nick Begich (D-Alaska) are killed when their plane disappears over Alaska.

Staff and wire reports