- EVELETH, Minn., Oct. 26 (UPI)
-- An intense fire occurred after Sen. Paul Wellstone's twin-engine, turboprop
plane crashed on Minnesota's Iron Range, the head of the National Transportation
Safety Board said Saturday.
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- The crash Friday killed all eight people aboard, including
Wellstone, his wife and his daughter, amid a heated re-election battle
seen as key to the Democrats retaining control of the U.S. Senate.
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- "There's evidence of an intense post-crash fire,"
Carol Carmody, NTSB acting chairwoman, told reporters. She said only the
tail section was intact, and the plane did not carry a cockpit voice recorder.
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- Such a device could have provided key data in explicating
the cause of the crash in light snow, freezing drizzle and fog near Eveleth-Virginia
Municipal Airport, about 180 miles northeast of Minneapolis. But a cockpit
voice recorder wasn't required for that type of aircraft.
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- It could take months to determine the cause of the crash,
and the terrain of the marshy, wooded area makes that task harder, Carmody
said.
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- Wellstone, 58, a liberal Democrat, was seen as a champion
of the little guy, fighting for a higher minimum wage, affordable health
care and other issues important to working people. He stuck to his principles
and in his latest controversial act voted against authorizing military
action against Iraq -- the only incumbent senator in a tight race to do
so.
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- Funeral arrangements were incomplete, and state Democratic
party officials said a decision on Wellstone's replacement on the ballot
would not be made until services are scheduled.
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- Counting Wellstone's seat, Democrats held control of
the Senate by just one seat.
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- Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, 74, is seen
as the party's likely choice to run against Republican Norm Coleman. Coleman,
the former mayor of St. Paul, immediately suspended all campaign activities.
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- Although Mondale has not publicly commented on the race,
The New York Times reported Saturday that Mondale associates indicated
that he would probably re-enter politics.
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- The Times took note of Mondale's speech to the Senate
on Sept. 4:
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- "My Senate years were the happiest of my political
career," he said. "I found my sweet spot here. I loved working
with friends and colleagues. I loved learning new things. I loved watching
my colleagues do their stuff. It reminded me of what Mark Twain once said:
that politicians either grow, or they swell.' Eighteen hours a day, every
day, it was like mainlining human culture."
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- At the time of the crash, Wellstone was en route to the
funeral of a friend in Eveleth, a town of 4,000 and home to the United
States Hockey Hall of Fame. He had been scheduled to appear in a debate
Friday night with Coleman in Duluth, about 60 miles away.
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- Accolades to Wellstone continued to pour in, and well-wishers
left flowers and other tokens Saturday outside his campaign headquarters
in St. Paul.
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- Wellstone was praised by colleagues for courage in his
public and personal life. Earlier this year, he was diagnosed with multiple
sclerosis.
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- For some insight into Wellstone, one might recall what
he said when he fought the impeachment of President Clinton.
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- "You know, I'm a political scientist, a teacher
by background. There's no proportionality here," Wellstone said at
the time.
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- "I think what people in the country are saying,
we know the president has not been truthful and we know he had an affair.
But does this constitute a threat to our freedom and liberty in the country?
The answer is no. This shouldn't have come to the Senate."
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