- By Benno Groeneveld, Minn. (Reuters) - Former Vice President
Walter Mondale confirmed on Wednesday he will become the Democrats' new
U.S. Senate candidate in Minnesota, replacing the late Sen. Paul Wellstone
in a race crucial to congressional control in next week's election.
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- As the 74-year-old Mondale announced his decision, a
poll showed him holding an 8-point over the Republican candidate handpicked
by the White House and a controversy erupted over a politically charged
memorial service for Wellstone the night before.
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- Mondale's edge in the poll over former St. Paul Mayor
Norm Coleman, 53. was roughly the same held in recent surveys by Wellstone,
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.
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- On Tuesday night, Mondale joined former President Bill
Clinton, former Vice President Al Gore and more than 20,000 mourners at
an upbeat memorial service for Wellstone in Minneapolis. In what resembled
a political revival meeting, the crowd cheered wildly for Democrats, while
Republicans such as Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi were
booed.
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- "I think the Democrats should hang their heads in
shame," said the state's maverick governor, Jesse Ventura, an independent,
He said he and his wife left the event before it was finished because organizers
turned it into an elect-a-Democrat rally instead of a nonpartisan service.
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- Ventura told a radio station on Wednesday he was so disturbed
by the partisan political nature of the memorial service that he might
appoint an independent -- not a Democrat as he earlier indicated -- to
take Wellstone's place as interim senator until the winner of the election
is certified.
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- Certification would usually take place within two weeks
of the election, but it might delayed by a lawsuit Democrats have filed
challenging plans to discard absentee ballots that were filed for Wellstone.
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- The memorial took place during what was supposed to be
a moratorium on campaigning that both sides agreed to after Wellstone's
death. The Democrats said they were sorry if anyone was offended but that
the partisanship flowed from the spirit of the evening.
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- COLEMAN ON ROAD
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- Coleman began a fast-paced series of campaign appearances
on Wednesday, saying, "We continue to grieve" for Wellstone and
his wife and "I'm certain they would want us to get on with the battle
of ideas they enjoyed so much."
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- 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 on Wednesday evening.
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- "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,"
said Mondale, vice president from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter.
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- "Paul cannot be replaced; no one can. But his passion
for Minnesotans and their needs can inspire us to continue the work he
began," he said.
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- "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 said.
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- Minnesota has twice elected Mondale its attorney general,
twice sent him to the U.S. Senate, voted for the Democratic ticket 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.
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- He 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.
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- 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."
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- Wednesday's poll by the Star Tribune in Minneapolis showed
Mondale ahead of Coleman by 47 percent to 39 percent. It was based on a
survey on Monday of 639 likely voters and had a margin of error of 3.9
points.
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- The newspaper said a poll two weeks ago showed Wellstone
leading Coleman by 47 percent to 41 percent.
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